The first project of the Professional Development avenue for the year 2020/21 was held on the 30th of August 2020 with the participation of many enthusiastic Rotaractors and outside participants. The project was organized under the guidance of the Co-directors of the avenue Rtr. Yadhuravi Ramachandran and Rtr. Chamini Nimeshika. It was an online panel discussion to encourage people to ‘speak up’ in English and to uproot the anxiety issues they have in common when it comes to using English language as a mode of communication in everyday circumstances. We had a great panel of mentors for the event and their voluntary assistance and participation was what made our event a great success.

Since the discussion was about speaking up in English, several personal experiences that the panelists themselves had undergone were shared with the audience to make them realize that everyone has space and chance to grow as individuals if they have the will to do so. Apart from that, the participants were given the opportunity to present their thoughts and issues on the subject.

The session concluded with abundance of positive feedback from the audience and we are humbly proud as Rotaractors since we could lend our helping hands to those who were willing to grab them!

~Rtr. Parami Ranasinghe, Senior editor