Following a longstanding KO tradition, the Robert Googins Speakers’ Forum showcased KO’s sophomores’ public speaking skills with an interpretive reading. For this event, all sophomores selected a piece of poetry or prose to read to their English classes in an engaging, often dramatic way in no more than five minutes. Students score their peers, and the students with the highest scores advance in the competition.

This April 22, the five finalists presented their readings to the entire student body. Sam Merkatz ’22 and Ricardo Croes Ball ’22 served as emcees.

Diya Mistri emerged as the top winner for her rendition of everyone’s favorite teen anti-hero, Holden Caulfield, from The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. The other winners included: Saanve Bathula – The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Lucy Ybarra – “Center of the Universe” by Simon Rich, Ashley Neikrie – Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, and Minnila Muthukumar – Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.

The semi-finalists were Emma Barringer, Ava Cashman, Audrey Karasik, Lucas Kollen, Anissa Lewis, Georgia Louis, Kami Tarantino, and Scott Taylor.

The Speakers’ Forum was renamed several years ago to honor beloved KO faculty member Robert Googins who championed the Forensic Union at the school.