Local student wins speech contest

KATHU: Twenty-one-year-old Philippe Berthe, a first-year hotel and tourism management student at Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus (PSU), won the first round of the National Speech Contest held at PSU on Wednesday. Mr Berthe, whose father is French and whose mother is Thai, was born in Phuket. The runner-up was Siwaporn Arjariya, a second-year student at Walailak University, Nakhorn Sri Thammarat. Both students will go on to the grand final in Bangkok next month. Nearly 500 students, teachers and onlookers filled the PSU’s main auditorium to see eight contestants – four from PSU and four from Walailak – deliver five-minute speeches in English on “Thai youth at the crossroads”. The winner of the grand final will receive a five-week, all-expenses-paid holiday in Australia.