On March 14th, Maya Mithani (‘26), Pareena Gupta (‘27), and Anika Parkhi (‘24) attended the Rotary Speech Contest at the Ruby and Roses Restaurant. The students won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively.

What is the Contest?

The Rotary Speech Contest happens annually, offering students the opportunity to showcase their public speaking skills. Participants had to write a five-minute speech about this year’s theme “Create Hope in the World.”

“I was glad I got to give my speech. I thought that it was nice because I got feedback from the judges afterward. Some people came up to me and told me what they thought about my speech. I thought overall it was a pretty good experience,” said Parkhi.

The Rotary Speech Contest format has special rules, designed to ensure fairness to all competitors.

“When you go up and introduce yourself, they have specific rules like you can’t say your name, your high school, talk about any of your affiliations, and you can only introduce yourself after the speech. There is no applause allowed as well at the end of every speech,” said Mithani.

Preparing for Success

The students prepared extensively for the contest. They researched topics for their speeches and practiced before friends and family members. The contestants also built off their previous public speaking experiences.

“I’ve been doing Model UN since 6th grade, done speech and debate for a few years, and I’m on the Competition Civics team this year. To prepare, I tried to figure out my topic. I watched videos from past Rotary competitions and looked on the official Rotary website for more information about the topic. I also presented it to my parents and a couple of my friends,” said Parkhi.

For Maya Mithani, the contest was a way to express her love of public speaking and improve upon it. Outside of school, she is a motivational speaker, giving speeches at Harvest Park and Thomas Hart Middle schools.

“I really love public speaking. So for three years, I have been talking to kids about the struggles that they’ve been facing in school,” said Mithani. “I just try to resonate with them as much as possible and try to help them persevere because I know that we’re facing a lot and I feel like a lot of adults that I’ve talked to also feel like a message from a student resonates more with kids than an adult does.”

The Rotary Speech Contest is invaluable in the sense that it gives students an outlet for their creativity and the ability to practice the essential skill of public speaking.

“I think that public speaking is a pretty good skill to have in general. I plan on becoming a lawyer in the future too, so I think that’s a pretty useful path to go down. But just in general, I think being able to speak and being able to present yourself in front of an audience is a really good skill to have just for presentations and the future,” said Parkhi.

Gupta is an avid dancer and a part of Amador Valley’s Dhamaka Bollywood team. Her talent for dancing ties into her public speaking.

“Public speaking and dance are similar experiences—both involve practice, preparation, and performance. I love the connection I’m able to establish with the audience when I perform. They both boost my confidence and [allow for] creative expression,” said Gupta. 

A Bright Future

This year is Maya’s second time participating in the Rotary Speech Contest. Last year, she placed third. After substantial preparation this year, she was able to win 1st place. She was awarded a prize of $100 and the chance to compete in the Area Level division of the competition.

“I had never spoken in front of a crowd of a bunch of you know really experienced people and so I did stumble a couple of times [last year]. This time, I knew what I was doing and what I was getting into. I had a lot more time to go over the speech and refine it. The amount of time that I had before the contest really reflected in my work,” said Mithani.

Looking back at her win at the contest, Mithani is encouraged by the results and will continue to improve her public speaking capabilities.

“I felt amazing, honestly. I was super proud that like all of my 2-3 weeks of work that I put in got me into the first place and I’m going to be competing at the Area Round. Like, hey, I won this contest and it was all my own. This was one of my favorite achievements,” said Mithani.

The students’ performances demonstrated their excellence in public speaking, but also their potential for improvement.

“My performance in the competition tells me that I can speak confidently. I’m not afraid to speak in front of a big audience now that I have practice and evidence that I can do it,” said Gupta.

This story was originally published on Amador ValleyToday on April 11, 2024.