past accomplishments, small they may be

in our final year in high school, we had a subject called "speech". our teacher taught us the rudiments of the IPA, the international phonetic alphabet. where other schools held speech subjects in a special speech lab, this teacher strictly taught it in the classroom. i wasn't afraid to speak english anywhere, and the teacher liked that i was able to pick up on the sounds pretty fast.

the school has not had an oratorical and declamation competition for a few years and when the administration decided there would be one that year, my teacher entered my name even before she told me. in fact she gave me the longest piece to orate and didn't even tell me until the last few days running into the competition.

there were seven orators. i was the second orator. the judge, a professor from the state-run university, was smiling all the time i was reciting my piece, writing notes, nodding her head. i was just a little bit nervous, but i knew i could do it. some students at the back made faces at me, trying to make me crack, but every time i stomped my feet and raised my voice to make a point, they stopped.

after the third and second prizes were named, i felt bad. i had expected to at least win third or second. then the judge announced my name as the gold medal winner. hah! i had an ear-to-ear smile.

the speech subject and the win helped me gain confidence when speaking to people especially during job interviews. a candidate would have better school credentials and experience, but i often got the job because i can express myself better. of course it also helped that i can write with correct grammar and spelling and can type above average.

so there i was on the stage, delivering my oration speech, the competition behind me. i was a skinny little thing, my knees were knobby and i had a neck! all the opposite of me now.

my get pushed posting: http://365project.org/summerfield/365/2012-11-19

[bkb in the city]

Thanks for sharing this Summerfield. It is always nice to learn more about the people we are following here on 365

[summerfield]

@bkbinthecity - thank you, brian.

[Pam Hawkes]

Great memorabilia! You have had a very interesting past and I am sure more accomplishments than many of us! Thanks for sharing!

[summerfield]

@pamfromcalgary - thank you, pam.

[Tanja Carda]

What a great photo and wonderful story to go with it. Your hard work and effort paid of nicely .I could of never done something like this ,I'm a very shy person and would much rather stay in the far back where no one would even notice me!

[summerfield]

@tanja_1211 - tanja, believe it or not, and not a lot of people believe it, but i am quite shy, too, and it's painful for me to be around people. that is why i hate parties. but part of excelling in school is to be able to do these things and most times i had to force myself. of course later on it helped more when i joined the toastmasters club. still, i prefer to be in the background, too. thank you, tanja.

[cheryl]

awesome accomplishment!! But I have to know.. do you still stomp your feet and raise your voice to make your point?? ;-)

[summerfield]

@cheribug - all the time! hahaha! thank you, my cheribug.

[cheryl]

@summerfield I knew it!!! :-)

[Abhijit]

This is so cool. Trip down memory lane

[alia_801]

Wow! Well done! That sounds like an amazing achievement :)

[Claire]

At first and without reading I thought you were tap dancing! Those look like perfect patent tap shoes:0) Love your long neck, mine is short and squat, although it must have looked better once upon a time .................maybe..........hopefully.............or maybe not

[Terry]

great memory

[Henri Russell]

Oh, I can see the anxious anticipation of the speech in this photo. Lovely memory.

[Laraine Kensicki]

i think you're beautiful in this photo

[summerfield]

@abhijit - thank you, ab.

@alia_801 - at the time, it was amazing. beating the hell out of the rich kids in things like this was one of my greatest joys when i was still in school. :-) thank you, alia.

[summerfield]

@claireuk - i could tap, too! while singing and playing the banjo. hahaha. not! oh, i'd like to see a photo of you when you were young and i'll be the judge of that. :-) thank you, claire.

@sarasdadandmom - thank you, terry.

[summerfield]

@henrir - it was nerve wracking, i remember. but the others who were favourites either stammered or delivered unconvincingly. they were always practicing. i only practiced once in front of my parents at home, and i had to do good or the old man would tell me to not go through it if i would just embarrass myself. thank you, henri.

@eniaral - yaiks! my mother would have been the first to tell you i'm the ugliest girl in the world. hahaha! thank you, laraine.

[Carolyn Sue]

you're just too cute in that picture! What a wonderful story!! And what a gift -- the confidence to speak!!!!

[summerfield]

@cscecil - cute?!? need new glasses, CS! :-D thank you!

[Ann H. LeFevre]

I think someone should have made me take speech in high school. It probably would have helped a great deal- but like you, I preferred to stay in the back ground (and still do). But the theater classes I took did help give me some coping tools for being in front of a crowd to the point where no one believes me when I say I really don't like it. I get, "But you look so natural and confident when you speak..." all the time. I don't have any pictures of the things I did on stage from my high school and college days (which is a GOOD thing!!). You look just as you should in this shot- a young woman doing her best in a competition- and hoping to do well, not realizing she's the best. Judging from the body language of your fellow competitors, they knew who was going to win!