Middle school is opening the doors to new opportunities for Walker. He is now eligible to participate in Speech. Speech has a short but intense season. Weekly practices began mid-September and now there are weekly meets against other schools in the diocese.
There are a number of categories to choose from for Speech but Walker selected Extemporaneous. Exptemp, as it is affectionately called, is described as:
The speech is up to 5 minutes.
Student may write up to 50 words on a note card.
Student studies issues of Time magazine.
Judges will choose two articles per meet. Each article will have two questions.
Up to three blank note cards may be taken into the waiting room.
Student chooses one of three offered topics.
While speaking, the student may use only one note card.
Gestures are permitted; eye contact is required.
Student should turn in his note card to the judge.
The meets take place at our school or Mater Dei High School. Each student wears speech attire which might be described as professional or dressy. The students are divided by their category and then they compete. The competition all takes place behind closed doors so I never had the chance to see Walker in action. Once all the students have had their turns, the judges tally up the scores. While the calculations take place, the students sit in the cafeteria, socialize and have dinner.
We missed the first meet last week because we were in San Diego, but tonight Walker competed. He placed second and was quite proud of himself. We can only hope that he continues to do as well at the other meets.
Love watching the boys grow!
What a great skill and a challenge!
Wonderful! But how starnge that it is behind closed doors–will you ever get the opportunity to watch?