On the 12th of May, our school took part in the Inter-private High School Choral Speaking Competition held by the Ministry of Private Education for the very first time. The competition was held at the Alamanda mall in the beautiful city of Putrajaya. 22 of us took part in this competition and all of us were pumped up with spirit and determination. The team was led by coordinator Nur Azzah of Form 5 Science 1 who did a wonderful job leading us. We also had Mr. Alphonsus who boosted our spirits and took care of us with love as though we were his own children.

The event commenced at 4pm with a welcoming speech from the organiser. The six participating schools were from all over the country. To determine who went first to perform, we had to draw lots. Mr. Alphonsus broke the news to us that we were up first. All of us had mixed feelings. Some started to panic but the words of our beloved Mr. Alphonsus, Datin Freida and Dr. Rizal kept us calm. We were scheduled to be up on stage at 4.30pm. We had some time left so this was when we checked our attire to make sure we looked smart on stage and Datin Freida was there to assist us.

Finally, we were called up on stage and yes we were the first so imagine the tension. The audience welcomed us and they were anxious to see how well we would perform. We started our routine with a wrong move. We accidentally started our lines without bowing and suddenly realised it in the middle of our routine. We came to a halt and restarted the whole routine. The butterflies in our stomachs grew more restless but we still gave it our best. We talked about the everyday life of Malaysians and hence the tittle "Rojak". We presented the audience with lines like "Teh tarik satu, boss" and "I'll take your order la macha".

We got off the stage feeling relieved but also a had a sense of disappointment because of the mistake in the beginning. After our performance, we got the chance to look at how other schools conveyed their message and they were great. The competition was stiff.

The moment that we had all been waiting had arrived. The results were in and everyone was on the edge of their seats. The other schools were seen praying for first prize. Third place was announced and we were grateful it wasn't us. Second place was announced and it was our school. We took home second place and were satisfied considering that it was our first try. Plus, we were second in the whole of Malaysia! SMK Yayasan Saad from Melaka took back first place. They deserved it after their wonderful performance.

All in all, we Cempakan's had a wonderful journey starting from the training till the glory of being the national runners-up. Hopefully we come in first next year!