Seventh graders sharpen public speaking skills

The seventh grade class is completing their Speech Writing and Public Speaking assignment in SPCHS Teacher Mr. Finley Hewes’ English class. All students were allowed to select a topic that was meaningful to them; students were tasked with researching the topic, writing a speech about it and delivering the speech to the class.

Topics ranging from “Why Pineapples Don’t Belong on Pizza”, “Why We Will Soon Be Able to Live on Mars”, and “The Great Uniform Debate” to “Why Dogs Make Better Pets than Cats” and many other interesting points of view were all covered. 

“I think it’s important for the students to practice speaking in front of others,” said Hewes. “The earlier we can get them comfortable doing it and developing this skill, the more they will grow. I was incredibly impressed with both their writing as well as their delivery.”

Lindsey McClure, who wrote her speech on “Why Summer is Better than Winter”, said, “I did not want to give my speech in front of the whole class, because I get very nervous speaking in front of people. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Next time, I don’t think I’ll be as nervous.”