Brentwood Speaks Volumes – Public Speaking Provincials

5 January 2023Nick C, Rogers ‘23; Photo by Bud Patel

Voluntarily speaking in front of a group of judges and spectators on a topic you just learned about three minutes beforehand sounds like a nightmare for many, but Brentwood’s bravest and most talented public speakers fearlessly rose to this challenge and more in British Columbia’s Public Speaking Provincials, which took place this November in the heart of Vancouver. The competition was organized into four categories: impromptu debate, impromptu speech, persuasive speech, and interpretive reading.

Impromptu debate places all competitors into groups of two, then assigns each group against another to debate on a random topic. The challenge is that each speaker only receives 30 minutes to come up with a convincing argument for their given stance on the topic and present it in a debate-like format. Despite some of our competitors having never debated before, their public speaking expertise gave them the tools necessary to finish in the top half of the competition.

Impromptu speech posed a similar challenge: each speaker was given a topic on a slip of paper, followed by only three minutes to compose an entire three to five minute speech. Once again, our Brentonians performed extremely well, finishing in the top 20-30 range. Ms Leggasicke, the Brentwood Public Speaking teacher who helped to judge the competition, spoke on the difficulty of this task: “The winner of the competition as a whole is often judged heavily on this category. The very short prep time challenges not only quick thought but the ability to string together and present the ideas coherently without planning.”

The persuasive speech was a little less stressful, but difficult nonetheless: each competitor presents a premeditated seven to nine minute persuasive speech on a topic of their choosing. From mental health advocacy to conspiracy theories, Brentwood brought the thunder to this competition. A special shoutout to Macy D, Allard ‘23, who finished fourth in the category with a powerful speech on the horrors of animal testing.

The final category, interpretive reading, had the speakers present a passage of their choosing, with selections ranging anywhere from children’s books to heart wrenching tragedies. Macy D, Allard ‘23, explains the key to success in this competition: “You can’t just read the text out loud – you have to engage the audience through different voices for characters, hand gestures, and changes in pace.”

A huge congratulations to Tavin M, Ellis ‘25, Yash D, Whittall ‘25, Nick C, Rogers ‘23, Isabella T, Allard ‘23, Dara M, Alex ‘25 and Macy D, Allard ‘23 for their outstanding performances in all four events. A special thanks to Ms Leggasicke, Ms Curtis and Mr Roeth, who dedicated their valuable time and effort to make this event possible.

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