CGS Annual Public Speaking Contest!
What at outstanding morning listening to our courageous Public Speaking finalists! Tuesday morning at CGS we hosted our Annual Public Speaking Contest. This is an exciting moment and “write” of passage for our Grade 2-4s to participate in. CGS was so thrilled to have our Public Speaking Contest back in full swing this year by welcoming back an in-person team of judges for the first time since Covid. The element of a presentation in front of a live audience always adds another layer to each contestant’s performance. Thank you to our grade 1 students who were such a great and respectful audience to our speakers.
The Grade 2 to 4 students have been carefully crafting and rehearsing their own speeches on a topic of their choosing, which they are strongly passionate about. It is important for all students to participate in public speaking assignments through their schooling as it is a common means of communication throughout the big professional world we live in. It is a platform to express ourselves and address certain topics through our likes, dislikes, passions, and morals. Our students’ speeches might not be what we see from our world leaders yet, but by introducing and practicing the skill sets needed, they better learn and understand the public speaking process to become better acquainted with it. It allows them to become more confident and less apprehensive. In addition, with more and more practice, this will allow them to learn specific strategies for overcoming any challenges of speech anxiety if it arises.
All of the speeches were assessed on six categories: Content (research, understanding of topic, familiarity with material), Voice (intonation, expression, projection, speed, fluency), Captivation of Audience (attention-getting, interesting), Eye Contact, Posture, and Memorization. Thank you to our guest judge panelists Danelle Smith, owner of Arts Express, Elizabeth Hersen, former CGS Foundation President and parent, and Naomi Peltz, our current Music/Drama Teacher, for making the tough decisions of narrowing down our contestants!
Our speakers were full of excitement to share their speeches with everyone. We heard from Brett, Nabeel, Xavier, Claire, Bennett, Marina, and Eric. A vast group of brave students! As audience members we learned about Hummingbirds, Rainforests, Pet Dogs vs Pet Cats, The Boston Celtics, The Kepler System, and the country Mexico! Our 2023 winner was Brett with a captivating speech on Mexico!
Naomi our Music teacher wanted to share a little something on our speakers and their performance. “It was such a pleasure to sit on the judging panel for the public speaking contest. Congratulations to all of the speakers for a job well done. Each of them showed bravery, confidence, eloquence and spoke like little professionals! It was wonderful to see them speak about a subject they are interested in and follow through with the research to expand their knowledge on the subject. I learned something from each of them, and I can’t wait to see them grow into even more confident speakers and performers. Bravo!”
Congratulations again to all of our 2023 CGS Public Speakers, you are all winners! We cannot wait till next year’s Contest!
