IHS Students Win Speech Contests

BY LEEANNE CARTER, IHS INTERN
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

The Inderkum High School junior Advanced Placement English class has been active – and successful – in recently local speech competitions.

Both the Natomas and South Sacramento Rotary clubs have hosted the recent competitions with the prompt: “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity.”

The South Sacramento Rotary Club contest was won by two of Inderkum’s juniors Shivani Patel, who placed first, and Rodney Haymer, who placed second.

“I found myself being more comfortable than I had thought I would just because I had recited my speech so many times in my head and to my parents that I inevitably aided my confidence level for when I had to speak in front of the Rotarians,” Patel said. “This whole experience with the competition has benefited me in the sense that I now know what I am capable of and have understood where my strengths lie as a public speaker.”

Inderkum juniors also won the Natomas Rotary Club speech competition with Rachel Torres taking first place, Dahlia Perez second, and Jaymar Pobre third.

“The hardest part of the competition, for me was all of the preparation and getting my speech together, and organizing it correctly using voice inflection and tools to help make it better, ” Torres said. “This experience was different, something I’ve never done before. It gave me more confidence in my speaking abilities and taught me that speaking is one the most important skills to have, and that being a good speaker can help accomplish a lot of things.”

Students who enter these contests are given the chance to win up to $200.