On Friday, March 31, the JCS middle school held an in-house speech meet where students in sixth through eighth grade enjoyed a one-class period of speech presentations. Over the course of a month, seventh and eighth grade students diligently prepared to present speech meet pieces in front of their English classes. Not only did they memorize lines, but they worked to enter into the thought and spirit of the selection and communicate it’s meaning to the audience with poise and effective enunciation and pronunciation. This was only a classroom assignment as, unfortunately, ACSI does not currently have a regional meet. Believing that this is a valuable skill to be practiced and celebrated, JCS held an in-house meet for the seventh and eighth grade that allowed the top twelve students with visible strength in this area to share those gifts with all of their middle school classmates. Not only was this an opportunity for students to display their talents, but it also allowed the students of both English classes the chance to listen to others’ speeches. Parents of those twelve students were invited to come watch their child. Dr. Kathy Keafer, Mrs. Cathy Spory, Mrs. Celeste Sprankle, and Mrs. Diana Yoder were the judges for this in-house competition. Once scores are tallied, students will be honored with ribbons based on their performance during that period (Honorable Mention, Good, Excellent, and Superior). It was an excellent and impressive display of talents! In the seventh grade, Abby Holsopple, Christopher Burkey, Emmaleigh Lushko, Grace Kabler, Grace Ressler, Kasmira Mack, Mary Hostetter, and Sarah Huston gave speeches. Elianah Parker, Gabriel Helsel, Lucas Haynes and Rachel Hartman represented the eighth grade.
