When walking into the classroom during Speech, you might find the team engrossed with a conversation about how awful people in the Dominican Republic are about following traffic laws to practice their speaking skills and vocal variety.
This year, Barstow was lucky enough to have Mr. Scott Guldin, an US English teacher, the US Speech teacher, and Interim Grade 11 Coordinator, stay to teach. With his welcome return came the reinstitution of an upper school speech team after twenty years without one.
Mr. Guldin wants people to know that speech, “first of all, exists at the highschool level. It’s a tremendous and exciting way for students to fulfill performing arts requirement that’s different from other options like BTVN, debate, or acting. It’s a great way to meet very kind people. Speech competitors are unique in that they are supportive and friendly, even if they’re going against each other. Speech is different from any other competitive experience where you might develop friendships. In a speech tournament, you’re spending a lot of time together, and it’s likely you’ll see them again. A lot of these people are really thoughtful and kind.”
Roland Kaufman ‘27 agrees, saying, “I like being able to get to know people and meet people at tournaments. You watch them try their hardest to speak about things that really matter to them and they’re passionate, and that’s really cool. On the other hand, you get to meet them as people, too, not just the performer.”
Speech class “aims to prepare students for tournaments. We walk through the process of identifying categories that might interest the students, attempt them, choose them, and then choose pieces to perform. And, of course, we practice speaking,” says Mr. Guldin.
Roland Kaufman ‘27, Quincy Stribling ‘27, Leo Karaichev ‘27, and Rowan Platt ’27 currently make up the speech team under Mr. Guldin’s guidance. All three of them were on the speech team for a semester in middle school as well.
When asked about the differences between middle school and high school speech, Kaufman ‘27 says, “It’s similar, but more diverse in middle school. There are more serious topics in upper school and longer piece times.” Quincy Stribling ‘27 affirms this, saying, “the main differences are the two new categories and that speech times have increased from 6-8 to 8-10 minutes.”
One thing many people confuse is the idea that debate and speech are essentially the same activity, when in actuality, they are very different.
For debate, “At the middle school level here at Barstow they do congressional debate, which is government in action. In high school, it’s policy debate. You’re given a topic each year, research it, and argue for or against it. In debate, you want to make your points as quickly as possible,” explains Mr. Guldin. “You train yourselves in speaking quickly while still enunciating. Debate does a nice job in teaching students skills in research argumentation and supporting points with reliable sources. Barstow also travels all over for tournaments,” he adds.
Mr. Guldin differentiates this from speech, saying, “Speech is more like acting. In several categories you’re portraying a character, or multiple characters (like a play), or there’s something called original oratory where you write, memorize, and perform your own topic that you care about. Speech is performative speaking. You use visual aids and can talk about topics you’ve chosen for yourself. For example, Quincy just finished writing a speech about how you can save and grow money with wise choices you make on a daily basis. There’s a wide variety of ways to speak and perform in front of an audience, and speech is one of the ways to explore that idea.”
Quincy Stribling acknowledges this idea, saying, “Speech and debate are completely different. In debate, everything is scripted. You don’t have to memorize or enunciate in debate. You don’t have to know how to act it out, or provide things like vocal variety and hand movements. Speech is about the performer, whereas debate is about the critical thinker.”
“Speech has allowed me a better shot at public speaking. I’m better at delivering speeches in front of crowds. It’s also helping me do better in debate. Overall, speech has had a positive impact on my life and who I am as a person,” says Kaufman when asked about how speech has helped them improve.
“Speech class is really fun,” says Kaufman. “[You’d] enjoy it if [you] tried it. It’s a yearlong course, and I know that plays into a factor when choosing electives with the limited elective spots we have, but it’s a really good choice. You’re gonna have a blast if you try it out.”
Stribling agrees, saying, “Speech is like dipping your fries in a milkshake; once you try it, you won’t be able to stop.”
The speech team has several tournaments coming up. The list of tournaments is as follows; November 3rd in Lee’s Summit, November 10th at Rockhurst, November 17th at North KC, December 1st at Van Horne, December 8th at Raytown South, January 6th at Winnetonka, and Districts follow last in March.
There’s still time to join, according to Karaichev, “I don’t want to force anyone to learn about speech, but there’s only four people. [You] should join.”
And, of course, there’s also still time to passionately discuss whether or not civilians obey traffic laws in the Dominican Republic with the other members of the team.
We wish the speech team good luck in their inaugural season, and remember to support your peers who work hard on Barstow’s academic teams!
