Northwestern Juniors and Seniors took on the challenge of public speaking during Round Two of Rotary International’s 2017 Four-Way Speech Competition. Round Two was held at the Rotary’s weekly meeting held Feb 28 at Sacred Heart Church in New Carlisle.
Students in grades 9-12 are eligible to compete in the annual contest and can win cash prizes at each level of competition. Speakers must write and memorize an original 4--5 minute speech that echoes at least one of the principles in the Rotary’s famous “Four-Way Test:”
Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Speakers Mia Berg, Emily Funderburg, Rachel Martin, Jake Parks, Taylor Schilling, and Holly Thompson presented speeches that tackled topics such as the importance of engaging in “fearless self-expression,” changing the world by being a good neighbor, and looking past a person’s disabilities to see and respect who they are on the inside and the struggles they go through every day.
The student speakers’ response to the experience was overwhelmingly positive, even when dealing with the inevitable obstacles one faces in public speaking, especially nerves and the final moment when they spoke in front of people. The young speakers agree that writing, then memorizing, such long speeches was difficult; but being able to choose their own speech topics was tremendously helpful.
“When I picked my topic. I went with the thing I’m most passionate about, which is running. It seemed natural for me to write about the thing I love the most,” says Emily Funderburg.
“All I could think about when I considered (competing in the speech contest) was what people would think about me. Then I stopped and wondered why I was worried about how people would judge me, and that is how I found my topic,” explained Mia Berg, who spoke about fearless self-expression.
Like the Tecumseh competitors before them, the Northwestern students say working with their peers so they could perfect their speeches was a highlight of the contest experience.
“I really liked working with our coaches and each other... it was my favorite part (of the competition),” says Jake Parks, “We got a lot closer with our classmates by doing this.”
The speakers are all students in Vicki Packard-Cooper’s A.P. Literature class. They say they chose to participate in the contest in lieu of writing a paper. However, Packard-Cooper says her students picked the more challenging of the two options. She also says she is very proud of how they presented themselves in the competition.
“This is every bit as hard as writing a paper. Because they really did write a paper...then they went on and memorized it. They actually did more work than they would’ve done if they had just written a paper and turned it in...I’m very proud of them and I hope the Juniors will return and do this again next year, because they did very, very well today.”
Several Rotarians agree that not only did the speakers do well, but that they also learned a lot from the student’s presentations and look forward to seeing how the young people apply their ideas in improving the life of the community.
(CORRECTION from the first article in this series: the final result of the Rotary Speech Contest will be published in the March 15 Edition of the New Carlisle News.)
