The winners of Monday’s Burke County Public Schools Middle School Speech Contest may have only a few years under their belts, but that didn’t stop them from tackling some very serious subject matter.
Railey Pitts took on the address President George W. Bush delivered to the nation and the world Sept. 11, 2001.
Though the potential for a career in the military is a few years away, Leyton Shoupe recited Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” the story of a group of 600 soldiers charging into almost certain death because that was the order they were given.
Maddie Baker and Logan Cline lightened the mood with the comedic “Stuck on You,” the story of a bride-to-be with her toe stuck in a bathtub drain and the plumber who is charged with extracting the distressed digit. But what middle school student is already thinking of marriage?
Lindsey Cales recited her own poem about leaving elementary school, but with descriptions of being met by some very grown-up horrors.
It was the tale of two parents who through their own selfish wish caused the death of their son in that sparked the interest of Joella Knopf and led her to recite “The Monkey’s Paw.”
It was all adult topics that took top honors at Monday’s competition.
That didn’t come as a surprise to the competitors.
“I can honestly say that most of the people that win this are leaders in our schools and are adult-like. They have a high maturity level,” Shoupe said. “One thing I’ve learned about them, getting to know them, they act adult. They have maturity. They have it.”
Despite the fact she was only 2-years old the day terrorists struck New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, Pitts said it was the lasting effect of that day that pushed her to take on the former president’s address to the nation.
“This is the 10-year anniversary, and (the attacks) affected tons and tons of people,” said Pitts. “It was moms and dads. My own preacher, his uncle was killed in the Pentagon. And it was a beautiful speech.”
Rexanna Lowman, director of secondary education for BCPS, said the students’ topics is simply a reflection of the world they experience every day.
“We see more of a global society now, and I think you see that in the context of their speeches and what they’re seeing. That’s what we’re trying to push in education, the 21 st -century skills and the globalness of the world. That’s reflected in the speeches.”
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