“The Catcher in the Rye.” “The Last Night of the World.” “The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Fledgling orators in the sophomore class read these texts and more as part of this year’s Speaker’s Forum, an annual event in which students compete to deliver interpretive reading performances, culminating in a final round where the top five students in the grade read their selections in front of the entire Upper School.
The first round of Speaker’s Forum was conducted in all sophomore English classes last week. Every student in the grade read a work of fiction aloud to their class, and their classmates scored their performances using a standardized rubric which includes attributes such as literary merit, diction, and whether the speaker stayed within the six- minute time limit.
Having every student in the grade participate in the event provides an opportunity for students to push themselves out of their comfort zone. “I have students in my classes who approach it with some trepidation and then two weeks later, they have almost memorized their piece,” English teacher Cathy Schieffelin said. “For kids who are kind of flying under the radar, this can become an opportunity for them to really shine.” Coordinator of Form 4 English Programs Ron Monroe agreed. “It’s a great program from my perspective, because it seems like every year a sophomore student rises up that wasn’t necessarily a star in his or her English class prior to this, but this particular exercise is something that they can tap into and really shine and that’s really nice to see,” Mr. Monroe said.
The top two speakers from each class were invited to the semi-final round, which was conducted after school in Tomasso on Thursday, Apr. 21. There, students were scored using the same rubric by a mix of teachers and members of KO’s speech and debate club, Forensic Union, including senior Samhita Kashyap. “As a judge, I personally look for whether someone is very well versed with what they’re talking about,” Samhita said. “Does it have some sort of arc? That’s something I really kept in mind and all the pieces in the semifinals very much had that.”
Top scorers Lucy Ybarra, Minnila Muthukumar, Ashley Neikrie, Saanve Bathula, and Diya Mistri were invited to perform their readings in the final round during a special Upper School PLB assembly on Friday, Apr. 22. Mr. Monroe opened the event by discussing the history of the event, which was first established more than 25 years ago by former KO English teacher and Forensic Union advisor Robert Googins.
Following his remarks, Forensic Union members and seniors Sam Merkatz and Ricardo Croes-Ball introduced the speakers and the panel of judges for the final round, which consisted of teachers Dr. McIntosh, Mrs. Garcia, Mr. Kyff, and Mr. Scranton, as well as Forensic Union members and juniors Frank Pu and Luke Roen. They also reiterated the areas in which the speakers would be scored, which remained the same as in the previous rounds.
The speakers then gave their performances one at a time, which ranged broadly in tone and content though not in quality. “I think that it is definitely very interesting to see what texts people choose and how they interpret the different texts,” junior and semi-final judge Johnny Kung said. “There are a lot of different genres represented, not just dystopian novels. There are more funny ones.”
Both Minnila and Ashley chose selections from the popular, emotionally complex young adult novel Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. “It was just what I was looking for – a book that starts light and happy but becomes heavy and emotional towards the end,” Minnila said. “I liked the part I chose because of how strong and impactful it was, and how it grasped the listener’s attention rapidly,” she added. In contrast, Lucy Ybarra selected a comedic short story by Simon Rich, “The Center of the Universe,” which re-imagines the Bible’s creation story, giving God a girlfriend with whom He has a toxic relationship.
Saanve and Diya both chose more traditional works of the canon, selecting The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Catcher in the Rye, respectively. “I chose Catcher in the Rye as my reading because I absolutely loved it when I read it for the first time in freshman year,” Diya said. “When the Speakers’ Forum was first brought up this year in English, I knew right away that I wanted to read a section from The Catcher in the Rye without any sort of hesitation.”
In between each reading, as the judges wrapped up their scoring, Sam and Ricardo provided light, humorous, unscripted banter, which included a poem recitation from Ricardo, an interpretive reading of Sam’s advisee group’s group chat, and various exhortations to join Forensic Union. Speaking both to his experience and to the event in general, Ricardo remarked that “I think everyone should leap at the chance to speak in front of a crowd even if you’re not ready and you’re probably going to embarrass yourself on stage. Practicing a speech by yourself 1000 times won’t grow it as much as winging it once on stage,” he added.At the end of the hour, Diya was declared the winner. “I think I surprised myself when my name was called for first place,” she said. “Reading something in front of the whole Upper School seemed a bit intimidating at first. Once I started reading those first words of my introduction, all of my worries and frantic nerves went away, and I was able to read as I normally would. I absolutely loved hearing everyone’s readings, and I think that they all did so amazingly,” she said.
