Speakers’ Forum Tradition Continues

Following a longstanding KO tradition, the Robert Googins Speakers’ Forum showcases sophomores’ public speaking skills with an interpretive reading. For this event, all sophomores selected a piece of poetry or prose to read to their English classes in an engaging, often dramatic way lasting a minimum of four and a maximum of six minutes, including an introduction. Students score their peers, and the students with the highest scores advance in the competition.

This May 2, the 14 semi-finalists presented their readings to a near-empty Roberts Theater with faculty judges in attendance. The eight judging criteria include quality and helpfulness of introduction, polish and familiarity with work, understanding of selection, voice quality, diction, literary merit, the appeal of selection, and overall reading. The readings ranged from the humorous to the dark.

The semi-finalists and their readings were:

McKenzie Campbell – Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
Kyra Dunnirvine – “The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
Charlotte Eberle – “The Crash” by Shahad Hakami
Annabelle Jacobs – Skink – No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen
Garret Kelly – It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Johnny Kung – 1984 by George Orwell
Lucia Martinez Castro – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Lean Nwaczek – Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
Sattah Phouthakoun – The Land of Stories Book 6 by Chris Colfer
Frank Pu – The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Eve Repp – “Nap Taker” by Shel Silverstein
Luke Roen – The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Keira Sullivan – The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Alyssa Temkin – Fat Chance Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

The following finalists will perform this Friday: Annabelle Jacobs, Garret Kelly, Lucia Martinez Castro, Luke Roen, and Keira Sullivan.

The Speakers’ Forum was renamed several years ago to honor former legendary teacher Robert Googins who championed the Forensic Union at the school.