T

housands of students from state and private senior high and vocational high schools in Makassar, South Sulawesi, attended the Youth Speak Fun Day, organized jointly by The Jakarta Post Foundation, Chevron Indonesia and the Education and Culture Ministry at Karabosi Square in Makassar last Saturday.

The students did not attend the event just for the fun of it but also to demonstrate their skills and creativity in various fields.

During the educative event, the students were given the opportunity to demonstrate their talents through various competitions, games and performing arts, such as music, traditional and modern dance, drama and other performances that were innovative and drew admiration from the audience.

Several competitions in English were also held, including news reading, a speech contest, a spelling bee, Scrabble, a Cupid'€™s pen contest, photography, lyrics writing, poster making with the theme Say No to Brawls as well as a fashion show presenting clothing from used newspaper.

Some 1,600 students took part in the competitions and showed great enthusiasm from the onset of the qualifying rounds on Nov. 22.

'€œThis is the first special competition in English. I gained a lot of experience and knowledge from this activity,'€ said Shania Tesalonika Sumanto, from SMK Telkom.

Makassar Mayor Ilham Arief Sirajuddin, who attended the event, expressed appreciation for the activity initiated by the foundation.

'€œMakassar is currently heading toward becoming a global city, so naturally we need smart people who are able to compete,'€ he said.

Foundation executive director Yulia Herawati said the event was aimed at increasing students'€™ interest in learning English and to change its image as a frightening subject. The event gave students the opportunity to have fun learning English.

'€œWe provide an opportunity for students to channel their creativity and demonstrate their talents through various competitions, games and performances, all using English.'€ said Yulia.

Chevron Indonesia government policy and public affairs senior vice president Albert Simanjuntak said his company was interested in being involved in the activity because the education sector was one of the focuses of the company'€™s corporate social responsibility program, besides the environment.

Youth Speak Fun Day has been organized in seven cities since the end of 2012. A similar event will be held in Bandung, West Java, in January.