St. Petersburg High School 1991 Yearbook (St. Petersburg, FL) - Full Access

G I I I 162 • Academics/English reat Public Speakers Start Here As the classes filled the theater, one lone student made his way to the podium. His knees were shaking, his palms were sweating, and when he began to speak, no sound emerged from his lips . To avoid nightmares like this, many SPHS students registered for Mrs. Barbara Stephens' Speech classes. "I like to speak in front of people," stated Lisa Pipitone, a freshman, "I like this class because there's more emphasis on you rather than what you have learned from a book." "I really enjoy speech class," commented Ekta Pat:awala, another freshman. "Speech class gives me an opportunity to talk instead of just doing work out of a textbook." Even though there was Above: But if we look at this solution ... Margaret Wojtasik, Hang Pham, Paul Ebner, and Mort Ghadiali discuss different options to a question in group discussion. Right: This would prove my point. Ekta Patrawala asks Mrs. Stephens about fitting a fact into her speech outline. no assigned text, one of the projects was to make a presentation on selected chapters from a text. This gave the students an opportunity to interact with one another while they were preparing to speak. Despite all the preparation work, there were still those who got the "sweaty palm" feeling when they had to get up in front of the class and speak. "I get extremely nervous when I have to make a speech," admitted Jill Talkington, a senior. "My mind just goes completely blank." Ekta agreed, "I am very nervous in front of others, but in speech class, I've learned how to speak without worrying about how others in the audience feel about me." Mrs. Stephens confessed, "I just love to see the progress of the students in their self– confidence, their creativity, and in their ability to defend their opinions." She added, " Being able to feel comfortable in front of a group is a skill that would be helpful to everyone." Hang Pham agreed, "More kids should take this class because it offers you so much in return for your efforts." Speech class was seen as an opportunity for students to learn about themselves during class time. When they dreamed, they dreamed of giving a clear, precise, speech to a great throng of people, and they prepared themselves for doing just that. - Michelle Dilley )