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2025 OUS TALKS – Students Present Their Visions for the Future
2025.10.29 updateNews
Intermediate Level 1st Place - Ambegoda Liyanage Manuri Linara Gunasekara
Intermediate Level 2nd Place - Jyo Bunnka
Intermediate Level 3rd Place - Airi Fuji
Intermediate Contestant - Jun Yokoi
Advanced Level 1st Place - Yip Hei Nam
Advanced Level 3rd Place - Violeta Ivonne Flores Lino
Advanced Level Contestant - Hiyarapitiya Dulina Sandhadev
Advanced Level Contestant - Geethmal Dassanayake
OUS TALKS is not just an English speech contest—it’s a platform that challenges students to present their ideas in English and engage with the audience through Q&A sessions that deepen understanding.
The theme of this year’s contest aligns with the 2025 World Expo in Osaka: Designing the Future Society of Our Lives, under which, the contestants had a choice of three topics.
Nine OUS students, eight from the Okayama campus and one from Imabari, delivered passionate five-minute speeches, used PowerPoint as a visual aid, and followed up by responding to questions about their presentations.
Professor Kaoru Yamamoto from the Faculty of Science, English Professor Jane O’Halloran, and, from the Imabari Campus, English Lecturer Toby Curtis, were on hand as contest judges.
The event started with a heartfelt opening message from English Professor and Global Center Director, Yoko Maekawa, followed by a warm-up activity led by English instructor Jason Baidenmann, featuring English tongue twisters that energized the audience.
This year, contestants were separated into two levels—Intermediate and Advanced—with the following winners:
Intermediate Level
1st – Ambegoda Liyanage Manuri Linara Gunasekara (2nd year, Department of Management)
2nd – Jyo Bunnka (Master’s Program, Graduate School of Management)
3rd – Airi Fuji (1st year, Department of Bioscience)
Advanced Level
1st – Yip Hei Nam (3rd year, Department of Bioscience)
2nd – Muhammad Haikal Mukhlis bin Mokhtar (3rd year, Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering)
3rd – Violeta Ivonne Flores Lino (Master’s Program, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine)
Each presentation offered thoughtful insights into culture, technology, and humanity, highlighting the creativity and diversity of OUS students.
The event concluded with an encouraging closing message from Vice-President Naoto Tomioka and a commemorative photo of the contestants, judges, and audience members, celebrating a successful day of inspiring presentations and cross-cultural communication