Think of a club that’s like Model UN, Debate, and We the People but not quite. For some people, this may be a difficult task, as Oakton’s speech team doesn’t get much recognition. Irregardless of this, the speech team has achieved many great things this school year. The speech club is different than debate or other clubs, because of the variety of events that are part of speech competitions. Compared to debate, the talking points are less about arguing a specific case and more about improving public speaking skills. There are multiple different categories that students can choose to participate in.

One event is extemporaneous speaking, where students get 30 minutes to prepare a 10 minute speech on some topic regarding politics, policies, or issues that impact different countries all over the world. Impromptu speaking is like extemporary speaking, but students get less time to prepare and less time to speak. There are also events like dramatic interpretation, that requires more memorization from an already existing play or movie. However, a similarity between all the different events for speech competitions is the importance of portraying the information well.

Sophomore Neil Cyrus has been part of Oakton’s speech team since his freshman year, and is currently co-president of the club. According to Cyrus, who participates in extemporaneous speaking, the hardest part is being able to manage time well. Due to the time limits for both preparing the speeches and giving the speech, it can be a challenge to fit everything in. “Because during the competition I only have 30 minutes to prepare, I have really had to work on not being distracted and being able to plan out my speech in a short amount of time,” said Cyrus.

Oakton’s speech team recently competed at regionals at Westfield High School one week ago. Two members of the speech club, Ishika Jain and Jay Deshmukh, qualified for the next level of competition.

As part of the speech team, members have to prepare before competing. However, because of the variety of the events, preparation for competitions is different for most students. For Cyrus, preparing for speech competitions means compiling sources. As part of Oakton’s Model UN team as well, Cyrus has found it to be helpful to be aware of world politics and issues that impact people all over the world. One of Cyrus’s recent competition topics was about China’s air pollution. After the 30 minutes he was given to prepare, he gave a persuasive speech on what China is currently doing, and what they can be doing better. Going into the competition, people can have sources, but most of the information they need is just background knowledge for events like extemporaneous speaking. Others work on memorizing their pieces or things that they will perform at the competition, and practice these skills when the speech team meets after school.

Cyrus originally joined because one of his friends initially convinced him, but throughout high school has really come to enjoy being part of the speech club. The club is really for anyone who wants to become better at public speaking. A good thing about the club is that there is not a set list of skills that members need to come in with- they can build up the skills as they perform in competitions and practice with the club.