11th Place Winner, 2025 Secondary - National Public Speaking Competition | Jian Yit, Anglican High

Contestant number five, Wong Jen Yit. The power of choice. Wen it taco coin heads. Your life goes on as though nothing has changed. Tails, your world crumbles overnight. But here's the twist. You don't get to pick when the coin is tossed. Life does. And for one boy, the coin landed where his mother got diagnosed with cancer. Now, he could have folded. He could have surrendered, but he chose something else. He chose to rise. Let me tell you a story. My friend Aaron, he was a senior in my school, just a year older, and a type of athlete that make coaches stop and watch. The speed, the fire, the talent, everyone whispered, "This one's going far. He was just someone I heard about. He was someone I spoke to, someone I looked up to when I first joined the team. " By the age of 14, tragedy struck. Aaron's mother was diagnosed with cancer. Now let me ask you how would you react when a person who raised you who cheered for you s lies in the hospital bed? Would you keep chasing medals or put everything aside for love? Would you push yourself forward or step back for someone else? Every morning while teammates trained, Aaron was in the hospital. And every evening after class, while teammates laughed or rested, Aaron was by her bedside when his coach finally asked him to pick his sport or his family. What do you think he did? Aaron made the painful decision to give up his dream. Months later, Aaron's mother passed away. He lost his mom. He lost his sport. He lost his dream. Aaron didn't let grief be the final word. Instead, he started helping our younger siblings with homework. Started helping classmates that came to him with problems. And even though he never experienced everything they went through, he learns one important thing. To listen, to care, and to work with others through their pain. Months later, Aaron became a student counselor. He told everyone, "I made a choice. I chose love where could have chosen resentment. I chose service where I could have chosen despair. To others, he may not hold a gold medal, but to the hundreds of lives he touched, he's a true champion. And I'll be honest with you, his story changed me. It made me see that choices are not always about success or failure, winning or losing. They are about values. And watching how Aaron give up what the world called glory for something greater, taught me this. The choices we make in our darkest moments are the ones that truly define who we are. This is the essence of choice. It's not always about comfort. the easy path. Sometimes it means stepping into the unknown. Embracing uncertainty and daring to take responsibility of the outcome. Choosing courage in the face of fear. Choosing honesty pressure and choosing action in the face of doubt. These are the choices that forge champions and this will ripple. Choosing kindness over cruelty, choosing collaboration over competition and choosing to lift someone up who could just walk past. These choices build communities, inspire change, and leave legacies. So I ask you, I challenge you, what the choices are you making today? Are they the choices that will make you proud tomorrow? The power is yours. Every moment, every decision, every choice. So choose wisely, choose boldly, and choose to leave a mark that cannot be erased. Thank you.