{"id":369,"date":"2010-12-08T11:03:37","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T16:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=369"},"modified":"2014-04-07T07:16:43","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T12:16:43","slug":"the-personal-benefits-of-being-in-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"The Personal Benefits of Being in Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Pauline Dagaas<\/em><\/p>\n

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Speech members Michaila Nate, Kelsey Schaffer, and Luke Bumpus prepare their upcoming Speech meet. Photo by: Pauline Dagaas<\/p><\/div>\n

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As the school year progresses, the 2010-2011 Speech & Debate season begins, challenging contestants throughout the nation and opening doors to the world of oratorical competition.<\/p>\n

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With the first couple meets beginning in October, the Plymouth High School Speech & Debate team has been consistently preparing for their events, whether it be individually or with the guidance of the various coaches on hand. Although the prep work done prior to each competition varies among all events, the time and effort put into it stands as somewhat common ground. Without a doubt, the schedule of a team member can be hectic at times and with weekend tournaments ranging from early hours to late afternoons\/evenings, some may be reluctant to participate.<\/p>\n

Senior Bryt Hiatt understands such reason, but takes a more positive approach. \u201cOne of the most challenging parts is getting up at an ungodly hour every Saturday, but it\u2019s worth it!\u201d First joining this activity in the seventh grade, Hiatt\u2019s original motivation to become a part of this group was out of pure curiosity and experience. Continuing throughout his high school years, the dedication he has put into his events have in turn, benefitted him as well. \u201cSpeech has helped me to become a much better communicator and writer, and has especially helped me in English class,\u201d he says.
\nFor others, the benefits have bettered their character and inspired inner confidence. \u201cI am more outgoing now and I have much less fear when acting or speaking in front of people. Also having done speech since middle school Jason Pickell finds that he has been able to overcome his fear of public speaking and in addition, has gained a sense of personal accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Although senior Sarah Gouker was introduced to speech last year, she has pursued it this year as well. \u201cI first joined to be involved and perform. However, the friends, memories and opportunities were greater than I ever imagined.\u201d \u00a0Not only has speech taught her about \u201ctaking your personal best to a new level\u201d, it has also enlightened her in terms of what it means to be a team player. \u201cIt is great to win individually, however, winning together as one is the absolute best.\u201d She comments.
\nNovices may gather speech to be a bit stressful and tedious specially towards the start of the season, but\u00a0 experienced members encourage all to continue, giving numerous tips and advice to help ease the nerves and make the season their best.<\/p>\n

For starters, Patrick Felke advises, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about early stress or problems, it\u2019ll get easier and you\u2019ll have success if you work at it.\u201d Secondly, Gouker admits it helps to simply take every meet one step at a time. \u201cI thrived on winning\u201d, she says, \u201cand when it didn\u2019t happen I was heartbroken. Just take a deep breath.\u201d Her tip of course goes hand in hand with the old saying. \u201cIf at first you don\u2019t succeed, try, try again.\u201d
\nPickell agrees with the previous statement and through his own personal experience believes, \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of hard work, but the benefits you get from speech will help tons in your future life.\u201d
\nAnd finally, what Hiatt most recommends novices to do is to simply have a good time. \u201cDon\u2019t forget to have fun!\u201d he encourages. \u201cIt takes a lot of hard work to achieve your goals in speech but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t have fun, too!\u201d<\/p>\n

Evidently, the perks of being a member of the Speech & Debate team are far more than \u201csomething that looks great on a college application.\u201d It not only serves as an academic extracurricular but also as an experience that has affected those involved, for the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Pauline Dagaas As the school year progresses, the 2010-2011 Speech & Debate season begins, challenging contestants throughout the nation and opening doors to the world of oratorical competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-news","tag-november2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8931,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions\/8931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}