Danielle Cooper - Eleuthera Junior Minister of Tourism 2008 / 2009

(L-R) Ms. Alicia Gibson and Ms. Danielle Cooper.

During the late afternoon, on Monday, October 20th - Junior Minister of Tourism '07/'08, Anya Fernander, looked on as two talented 12th graders, battled it out in a war of words and presentation for the title of new Eleuthera Junior Minister of Tourism '08/'09 at the final local speech competition held in the Ministry of Tourism’s offices in Governor's Harbour. 

Alicia Gibson of Windermere High School and Danielle Cooper of Central Eleuthera High School both presented compelling speeches, which were well prepared and researched.  Their supporting teachers at both schools did a commendable job in preparing them for the fray.

The head judge for the afternoon's competition was Mr. Stephen Galanis of New Wave Innovations and assisting him as second judge was Mrs. Elizabeth Bryan of The Eleutheran.  Before speeches commenced, Mr. Galanis introduced the rules and guidelines of the competition, for the benefit of both the contenders and the small audience, made up of local tourism officials, supporting teachers, proud parents and family members, high school peers and the judges.  Terry Sands of the Ministry of Tourism moderated the presentations.   

At the end of both speeches, judges scored each presentation and tallied final scores.  A key rule which was highlighted carefully at the beginning of the session was the importance of staying within the time allowed for each individual speech.  One of the contestants strayed from this guideline, going over the time allotted, resulting in  a manadatory disqualification. 

Danielle Cooper of Central Eleuthera High School came out on top and was awarded the new Eleuthera Junior Minister of Tourism '08/'09 title and now has the opportunity to further compete in Nassau for the National Junior Minister of Tourism position in several weeks.  Several suggestions were made by head judge, Stephen Galanis and participating teachers for next year's competition, which included; upgrading the venue to a larger area, so that the competing students would have an experience closer to what they would face in Nassau and information about the competition being sent out to schools as early as possible for maximum preparation time and greater participation.

The Eleutheran, spoke with both Alicia and Danielle after the competition, and found out a little bit more about their goals and aspirations.  Alicia, who performed well and showed excellent research skills in her speech content, said that she plans on studying law when she enters college in 2009, and feels that, experiences like this one, serves to broaden and deepen her oratorical skills.  Danielle, who had an impressive all around performance, also had her future mapped out, with plans to study Biochemistry when she heads off to College, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Forensic Scientist.