This week in Public Speaking & Debate, students learned how to begin and end a speech powerfully and more fully develop the main body. To apply what they learned, they crafted two speeches, one in groups and one individually.

For the group speech, students worked in two teams of four to compose and present a persuasive speech. Each team pulled a mysterious object out of a bag, and they were tasked with convincing the audience that the object was relevant to their lives. The speech must incorporate three essential elements: ethos (credibility), logos (carefully reasoned arguments), and pathos (emotional appeal).

For the individual speech, students delivered eulogies at Amherst West Cemetery, where the esteemed writer Emily Dickinson rests. The eulogies commemorate the lives students envision themselves living. Imagined futures and contributions to society include championing the rights of the marginalized and downtrodden, addressing climate change in revolutionary ways, serving as a diplomat and becoming president, alleviating poverty, and fusing one’s love of medicine and literature. The lives they dreamed of are full of ambition, creativity, altruism, and fulfillment.