There’s a hierarchy in the competitive speaking world, especially at the high school level. I like to think it goes like this. Debaters are at the top of the food chain, striking down the rest of the public speakers with their excessively pretentious terrifying rapid-fire arguments. Somewhere in the middle, we have our Model UN kids — well-intentioned, but harmless. The mediators of the three are usually in their own little world, pretending to be their self-proclaimed niche country of choice. And then there are speech kids. While we receive the most scrutiny, we’re an underdog collective. Some might call us intense, glorified theater kids, or simply corny, but I like to say we’re a passionate group. If someone gave me the option between a stable career and a 401k, I’d choose speech 10 times over. I mean, what else do people do with their Saturdays besides waking up at 4:45 a.m. to watch teenagers talk to walls, beat each other up, pantomime, wail and pretend to be radio hosts all before the clock hits noon? My second year on the Palatine High School speech team has so far been unforgettable. From eating fresh donuts at 8 a.m. to reading judge feedback that simply says, “Tough round. Great speaker,” while ranking me dead last in my round, I consider speech to be one of my favorite aspects of the universe, and I wouldn’t trade this journey for anything. 

As a speech kid, starting your day usually involves waking up before the sun rises. Our days usually start with a caffeinated beverage of choice, ridiculous amounts of water and dressing up in business formal. I own a hot pink suit and a few others that I rotate between each week. I love the way my teammate Lillian Sullivan dresses because her outfits are versatile and unique. We typically arrive at our bus at around 6:30 and we’ll drive to our tournament. It’s always a cozy bus ride and it’s always nice to catch up with my teammates. Because of the events I do, I never get to spend time with my team, so I always cherish it when I do. Once we arrive at the school, we’ll set up or prepare for our rounds. This usually entails talking to walls, which is daunting at first. I‘ll never forget the first time I saw someone do it at a tournament. I remember laughing so hard I cried, not knowing I’d become a wall talker that same day. After preparation, we’ll begin warmups. I always feel a little bad for my teammates because I do a limited prep event so I leave around an hour before everyone else does. 

In speech, I participate in two events. It’s the maximum number of events IHSA allows students to compete in, but in unofficial tournaments, we’ll have a few triple entries for overachievers. For my main event, I compete in Radio Speaking. Competitors have 45 minutes to create a five-minute news broadcast covering international stories and sports. It’s equal parts clarity and creativity. I quickly realized I love radio. Radio is a severely underrated event. A lot of people find it a bit boring, but I believe there’s something special about the way speakers choose what stories they feel is best for their skill set. We all have our own taglines, and I’ve heard some really incredible ones. My own tagline is “WJLM news. News you can use.” Radio was particularly intimidating for me freshman year. I hadn’t expected to find success in it, but I’m really glad that I stuck with it. I was terrified of the idea of doing a limited prep event, but after a few tournaments, I was able to find beauty in it. Gaining a few medals along the way also helped me get over that fear. I especially loved seeing radio speakers at all of their other events. I found it so funny to see someone going from delivering a compelling radio script to screaming at their best friend in Humorous Duet Acting. Radio is one of the more eccentric events, but it’s a personal favorite of mine. 

The second event I participate in is Original Oratory. When someone asks me what this event is, I simply tell them it’s what someone thinks of when they think of speech. Speakers choose a topic they’d like to persuade an audience about. My current topic is on mass sensationalism from true crime content. I find this event to be so interesting, especially when I hear of topics that I hadn’t even considered to be relevant or some I had no idea about. Oratory is a gateway for all things informational. I especially love making references or doing my own research on topics I find particularly interesting. I also enjoy being able to sit in on a round after I’m done speaking.

More often than not, we aren’t allowed to do that at tournaments until we get to the state series, so I always look forward to it. The first time I performed my oratory, I was a mess. I was terrified to see what my judges would think of my topic, but I found success in it as well. At the beginning, it feels nearly impossible to start. Writing is a struggle of mine and getting my speech into gear was troublesome. Memorization was another hill I had to climb. It’s frustrating when words don’t seem to stick in either the writing or the memorization portion. I think my best tournament was at Fremd High School’s Viking Varsity Tournament. In my freshman year, I participated in Oratorical Declamation (OD), which is similar to an Oratory, but it’s scripted and based on another person’s content.

I truly believe that this was one of the toughest events for me. I’m not a natural actress and it took impossible hours of coaching to memorize. Despite this, I’m really glad I did it. OD felt tougher than Oratory, and it gave me a good baseline for all things speech-related. When handling events that aren’t limited prep, everything is so subjective. It’s truly based on the judge’s outlook on your topic and what goes into it. I adore public speaking, especially when it allows me to speak about something I care about. My favorite comments I receive on my judge’s feedback are when they tell me that they initially hadn’t agreed or cared about my topic, but eventually found themselves interested. There’s something so compelling about persuading someone to care about something in the same light that you do. 

The riveting performances in interpretation events to the intensity of the public address and limited prep may scare some off. And I don’t blame them. Speech is eccentric in all of the best and worst ways and many find it to be unserious. Honestly, I don’t disagree. But to me, It’s also a space where my voice is the most important thing in a room. As I write this, I think of all the times I’ve talked to walls, slandered the names of debaters, laughed, rolled my eyes or cried at a speech. But above all else, I think of the times I was loud, vulnerable and embracing my self-expression—and the rewards I’ve gotten because of that. Competitive speech has taught me to find strength in my voice, beauty in the unconventional and solidarity in words. I wouldn’t trade this understanding for anything in the world.