Marita Oosthuisen, a student in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State, was one of the finalists from around the world who travelled to the Netherlands and Belgium to participate in the International Public Speech Competition.

The program was made possible by many hands, namely:  Liesbet Winkelmolen of Leiden University, the employees of Taalunie and IVN, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the jury members, Wim Vandenbussche, DeBuren, the teachers of the candidates, chairman of the day Pim van den Dool, the Education and Science Attachés and of course Valeriia Hoogesteger-Maiboroda, who organised everything. And not to forget you, their teachers.

The week was filled with many unforgettable experiences. The highlight was the final on Friday at Leiden University, where Lara Hörnemann from Münster won, but as has been said a lot that day, they were all winners. They all spoke in De Taalstaat on Saturday.

A heartfelt congratulations to Marita Oosthuizen for achieving this.