TODAY 13-year-old Ajay Sonti will deliver a five-minute speech at the Melbourne Legacy’s 92nd Annual Anzac Commemoration for Students, taking place at the Shrine of Remembrance.
The event is a special service for primary and secondary students leading up to Anzac Day, joined by the governor of Victoria Margaret Gardner and military personnel.
The opportunity was awarded to the Portland Secondary College (PSC) student when he took first place at the Legacy Junior Public Speaking Competition state final last year, making this year the second year in a row a PSC student has spoken at the Melbourne service.
He will speak in front of thousands of students from Melbourne and regional schools, including his parents, sibling and public speaking coach Elizabeth Paulet, who will also be attending.
Ajay will recite the speech he delivered last year at the Legacy Junior Public Speaking national final (where he came third) mentioning his late great grandfather who served in the New Zealand Army.
“He fought in Gallipoli and the Middle East,” Ajay said.
“The speech is about what remembrance means to me and there are different examples too.
“I speak on how he became a soldier, where he went and what he means to me.
Ajay said he stumbled across a box at home with pictures of his great grandfather in the army, which led him to research further online.
“I went on to a website that has all the war documents of soldiers who fought in World War I.
“It has all their recruitment papers, where they served and their time books.”
Leading up to today, Ajay had presented the same speech to the Portland Legacy Club on Tuesday night for some extra practise and to share with the club how far he has come.
Ms Paulet said the school has a lot of pride in Ajay for representing a regional town.
“It's not just a matter of turning up and speaking, he gets to be part of the official party with the governor, which is excellent,’ she said.
“He gets to observe all the traditional activities they do on the Anzac service, so the raising of the flags and all of that.”
