Words that Matter – 7/21/24

One thing I know for sure is that I had a fear of public speaking. In my old school, there was a whole class on it, and we had to present speeches they gave us. Let’s just say, I definitely did not ace that class. 

When I switched to my new school, I was relieved to see that there was no speech class, but the problem was that whenever the teacher asked me a question, I was so scared to answer. One time when I got a question wrong in physical geography, a guy from my class laughed at me and told me I was a stupid idiot.

I told my mom, and she had plans of putting me into speech and debate. The next year, there was a debate club, and my mom immediately signed me up. I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to make and present a speech to the whole class, but I had to do it anyway.

Who I aspired to be at the ripe age of 10 years old

When I walked into the club room, I saw one of my friends/classmates there. As time progressed, we went to the same classes and times to be with each other. We both picked OO speech (original oratory). We started making our own speeches about politics for me, and for her, about trust and honesty. Debate was going pretty well, and especially since I learned the basic concepts of it. 

When the next year started, 2024, I realized some kids were going to debate tournaments. I really wanted to go, and I went with my friend I saw in the club room, since she was my partner. We prepared so much for the competition and finally the day arrived. It was the beginning of March. Although it was online, I was still so stressed out. My speech rounds were first. 

After the speech ended, the debate rounds started. Our first out of six rounds was the worst. Us sixth-graders went up against twelfth-graders. It was crazy. And the next one, and the one after that. In the end, we lost all rounds. We were really sad, but our parents helped to cheer us up. 

We went to another one in April, and it was way better. This took place in ​​Presentation High School. We actually won one round this time! Speech was worse though, but I did get second place. My mom and I have been looking into a team outside of school called Athens Debate, which won most of the debate rounds against the opponents in the tournament. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next post!

Athens Debate, the club I now go to