A Portage la Prairie student's gearing up for a provincial competition. Ecole Arthur Meighen School's Sarah Nadeau won the local oratory contest, taking a gold medal for her speech. While she recently received the award Nadeau spent weeks preparing, picking a topic and writing a speech, editing and revising, and then finally preparing for the in-school competitions. For her speech, she chose the topic of foot-binding, as well as the ongoing issue of suffering for beauty.

"It's a concept that's kind of a shadow of the past in our present, even if we don't realize it or not. In my opinion, if we tell people about it and spread awareness of how these fashions and et cetera can really hurt people, then maybe in the future these things will stop being so popular."

Nadeau says she was excited to discover she'd receive the gold medal for the her piece, noting the competitors had some great speeches, and proved tough opponents. She's now gearing up to compete at a provincial competition, which will take place in Winnipeg on May 7th.

"It's just about getting in touch with your speech and really becoming comfortable with it. Really trying to do as much research and know it as much as you can. I'll just keep practicing it  to get it to that point where it's just always with you. Being comfortable with it is the key."

Nadeau says she became involved with public speaking competitions, as a way to spread awareness of issues important to her, while also sharing her thoughts and opinions with others. She'll compete in the provincial competition May 7th.