The Scarsdale Middle School Speech Contest is a highlight on the middle school calendar. All seventh and eighth grade students spend hours preparing, memorizing, and practicing their speeches from the categories of poetic interpretation, declamation, original oratory, dramatic interpretation, humor, and personal experience. This year’s speech contest was extra special because it was the first time it was held in two years. Still, many obstacles threatened this year’s speech contest, and substantial effort was put in by the organizers to make sure the event could be held safely and successfully. On March 24th, 2022, the Speech Contest successfully returned to Scarsdale Middle School. 

Throughout the night, students presented their speeches to a panel of judges, and the students who receive the highest scores from the judges moved on to the finals. These judges are usually comprised of members of Scarsdale High School’s Speech and Debate Team as well as parent volunteers. After the finals are held, the winners are announced, and the winner from each category goes on to perform their speeches for the whole school. This year’s winners were Aaron Gans for drama, Julia Wu-Oswald for original oratory, Dylan Lemberg for declamation, Liya Chu for poetry, Lilly Rosenthal for humor, and Arun Nayakar for personal experience. 

Public speaking is a widespread fear, and the speech contest is a unique opportunity to face that challenge. “Giving my speech to classmates and others, it was interesting to show them what I prepared for,” said David Zhang ’26, on what made the Speech Contest experience different from any prior writing activity or assignment.  Some students even surprise themselves with their talent, “I decided I wanted to go into the speech contest Monday of that week,” said Julia Wu-Oswald ’26. Julia went on to win in the category of original oratory, showing that the speech contest helps students discover skills they never knew they had. 

Additionally, the Speech Contest also allows students to decide if speech is something they would like to continue in high school. “I thought it was a really good experience, and it definitely increased my interest in speech,” explained Anusha Kumar ’26, a finalist for original oratory. “At first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in the high school. I really didn’t like speech that much. But, after doing this, I think it’s actually pretty fun,” said Lillian Liu ’26. The high school students who judge the speech contest also encourage the contestants to continue with speech and debate in high school.

It is also important to look at the pandemic’s effect on the Speech Contest. Since the Speech Contest hadn’t been held for two years, it makes sense that there would possibly be an effect on participation or the quality of speeches. Thankfully, Kathleen Connon, an eighth-grade English teacher for Popham House, believes that despite the pause, the speech contest is still in good shape, “I think that, overall, our numbers were lower, but I was happy with who I put in.” She also spoke about the importance of the speech contest, “Building confidence and being able to speak in front of a group, giving eye contact to other members in a group, and being able to stand in front of your peers and give a speech.” This can be a challenge for many students, as speaking in front of a large audience can be very nerve-racking. The Speech Contest helps students overcome that fear. 

With all the uncertainty surrounding this year’s speech contest, it is safe to say that the event was a success. Hopefully, as the pandemic continues to ease, it will continue to push students to challenge themselves, face their fears, and discover new interests and talents.