Speakers’ Forum: An Annual Public Speaking Exercise

Public speaking is a cornerstone of the Kingswood Oxford education. We believe that every student should have opportunities to speak in front of their peers to lessen the discomfort.

The Bob Googins Speakers’ Forum provides that opportunity. The Speakers’ Forum is an annual event, in honor and memory of beloved KO English teacher and Forensic Union advisor Robert Googins, that has taken place in English 4 classes at KO for over 25 years. Form 4 students choose a piece of fiction, abridge it to fit a four to six-minute time frame, write a brief introduction to it, and practice interpreting the story out loud in their English classes. Each student stands before their class and reads their piece, with two students from each class chosen by their classmates to reach the semifinals, where they perform their readings in front of a handful of faculty and staff members and student leaders.

From the semifinals, five finalists are chosen, and they perform their readings in assembly in front of the whole school and a new set of faculty and student judges. This year, we were lucky to have former KO English teacher and English Department Chair Kathy Lynch as one of our guest judges.

Here are the results:

1st: Noa Taback (The Book Thief by Markus Zusak)

2nd: Julia Atanasio-Villa (The Giver by Lois Lowry)

3rd: Lilly Jacobson (“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

4th: Nadia Simon (Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn)

5th: Rhea Doshi (“A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri)