In grade 9 and throughout the years at the Abbey, we focus on all areas of the curriculum including oral communication. Or, in other words, public speaking! We work in class to develop confidence in each student and offer many opportunities to practice students' skills in various speaking competitions. 

For the past two years our LAT students have dominated the podium in the TCDSB board-wide equity Mic Drop Speech Contest. Last year, Caleigh O'Connell placed second overall and the year prior, Nicole Naeini placed first and Ava Marrone placed third. All three of these students performed their speeches at the board in front of hundreds of students. 

Additionally, we have a strong record at the Skills Ontario Prepared Speech Contest where two years ago, Victoria Mignella placed second in the province on her speech about technology and the trades. The year prior, Simone Beshtoev made it to provincials placing first in the TCDSB round. Last year, Victoria Mignella placed second at the TCDSB round missing advancement by one. 

Our involvement in public speaking contests is something we believe showcases how we help to develop students' confidence and voice that will benefit them in all their classes and also in their daily life. 

Loretto Abbey now holds a very unique and prestigious title - the Canadian National Ethics Bowl Champions of 2025. Our three student team comprised of Simone Beshtoev, Simone Kang and Minnie Suriyapunpong competed in a 7-month long competition proceeding from regionals to provincials to nationals where they debated against teams from across the province and country about ethical dilemmas that face our society today. 

In April the team flew to the Ethics Bowl National Championships at the Canadian National Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They smallest team of the competition won all 6 one-hour matches to be crown the Canadian Champions.

Congratulations to our team “Little Miss Ethics!”

The Catholic Registrar featured the story in their May edition: https://www.catholicregister.org/item/2165-no-debate-loretto-abbey-girls-national-champs

We in the English department love a good field-trip! We try our best to connect the curriculum to the stage in attending performances of our plays we study or other plays to showcase drama and English at its best. This past year we joined forces with the French department in the fall to see Stratford's production of "La Cage aux Folles" and in the spring we went back to see the brand new production of "Macbeth".