The speech team kicked off the year with their first speech meet on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 at Forest Hills. Out of the 12 students that participated in the meet, 10 experienced their very first speech meet. Eight students placed in a variety of categories.
Each student chose one category to stick with, out of seven that the club offers. Categories included drama, persuasive, poetry and more. From there, they composed their own writing on a topic they also chose.
“ My topic is the Make a Wish Foundation. I chose this because I love kids and I felt that if more people knew about the foundation, then more people would help the kids,” Taylor Berardi said.
Over the two weeks provided, students prepared thier individual speeches with Sonya DeArmitt, club adviser. DeArmitt held speech club meetings every Thursday, with the help of several experienced high school students. DeArmitt also provided training in the morning, before school. These practices led up to their first speech meet which took place at Forest Hills Middle School.
” My coach Derek and my friend Emerald Nimitz have helped me prepare most for my meets,” Berardi said.
The majority of speech team participants placed seventh place and up. The following placed: ninth grader Kyle Roberts placed seventh in poetry, eighth grader Taylor Mandley placed sixth in prose, ninth grader Kim Nguyen placed sixth in persuasive, ninth grader Emerald Nimitz placed fifth in persuasive, eighth grader Zoe Wilson placed fifth in impromptu, eighth grader Kristen Lucas placed fourth in drama, eighth grader Jasmine Allen placed third in prose, eighth grader Cassy Beere placed third in prose, and ninth grader Berardi placed first in informative. These students received ribbons for their achievements.
“I think I need to work on memorizing my speech to eliminate the use of notecards,” Berardi said.
The 10 inexperienced students or “newbies”, as the club calls them, passed their first ever speech meet. Learning from their experience, these young speakers, now, prepares themselves for their next speech meet by adjusting their methods and style to advance their skills.
