Raise Your Voice
On December 10th, I participated in a speech contest hosted by the Ashland Lions and the Greater Ashland Lions. The contest was open to all students grades 9-12, and a single prompt was given: being politically correct: is it taken too far? I took second place, and will therefore be moving on to represent the Ashland Lions.
As you can imagine, this prompt dealing with political correctness has many different facets to take into consideration, and opinions on this subject differ immensely from person to person. I discussed tolerance and respect for people who may differ from yourself. Both positions were argued thoughtfully and thoroughly and gave the audience a lot to think about, which is the most important and enriching part of the contest. It was less about a winner and loser and more about giving high school students the opportunity to voice their opinions on topics that we usually aren’t invited to have an opinion on.
The contest was held at the community center, and even with just a small crowd of members of the Lions clubs and teachers from the high school, I was extremely nervous. Throughout the entire process, I couldn’t help but tap my foot and bounce my leg up and down as I was waiting for my turn. The words of my speech ran through my head on a never-ending loop as I tried to remember every point. But, when I was finally standing at the podium, the nerves still lingered slightly, but I also felt powerful. Powerful because a whole room of adults were focused on what I had to say about a topic that is very important to me. It made me realize that nerves should never hold you back from voicing your opinion. And maybe I didn’t change the world in that room, but if I made just one person think from a different perspective, then that is enough. And now, in the future, I’ll remember how powerful words and discussions can be, and I won’t hesitate to share my opinion when I feel it is necessary.
Public speaking is scary. That is evident from the participation in the contest; only two students out of an entire high school. But in the end, the effort is worth it to be able to raise your voice.
