On April 11, students from advanced English classes (general classes could compete for extra credit), speech classes and theatre art classes were required to take part in Speech Contest.
Speech Contest is an event where a student reads a piece of writing in front of an audience and judges and is scored based on their performance. There are 13 categories in Speech Contest. Those categories include narrative, classic and humorous poetry, dramatic and humorous duos, monologues, readings, oratorical, powerpoints, original speeches, and Bible readings.
Each student performed their piece twice in the same room with two judges and other students of the same category. Judges (two per round) used an established rubric to assess the performance, and an average was taken of the four scores. An individual was judged based on several details. One requirement was time limit. The speeches varied from 3 minutes to 4 minutes in length. Going over the time limit or not reaching the required time could result in points being deducted. The student’s attire, volume of voice, facial expressions, posture and confidence all were reflected in their score.
Speech Contest has been a part of Paoli High School as long as English and Speech teacher, Carol Fullington can remember. This was Fullington’s first year taking over the Speech Contest duties.
“Public speaking is an important skill to practice for most jobs and college bound students. Furthermore, Speech Contest gives students an opportunity to excel in something other than sports,” said Fullington.
Each student who took a part in Speech Contest received a ribbon based on his or her average score. Each category winner received a pin. There was also a reserved grand champion and a grand champion, both of which received a trophy.
The winners included Senior Alexys Gillespie for Classical poetry, sophomore Ashley Lindley for Narrative poetry and senior Skylar Hodges for Humorous poetry.
Senior John Hutcheson, had the highest score in the Bible reading category. Sophomore Anna Kemple had the highest score in Dramatic reading and freshman Melody Pinnick won in Humorous reading.
Senior Lauren Anderson won for Original speech. Junior Jack Coleman won for the Oratorical category and junior Josh Shipman won for best in the PowerPoint category.
Sophomore Anna Kemple and freshman Melody Pinnick tied for first in Dramatic monologue. Junior Hannah Thill received first in the Humorous monologue category.
Sophomore Ashley Allen and senior Kelsey Stouse performed best in the Dramatic Duo category. Seniors Lauren Anderson and Kelsey Stouse won in the Humorous Duo category.
The reserved grand champion award went to sophomore Ashley Allen and the grand champion award went to freshman Melody Pinnick.
Story by Brooklyn Dotts
