Kingswood Oxford Sophomore Wins Public-Speaking Contest

For the past 26 years, sophomores at Kingswood Oxford School have spent much of the Spring practicing their reading -- interpretive reading, that is, for an in-house public speaking contest called the Speakers’ Forum.

The event is a rite of passage for a school that has long prided itself on producing excellent communicators, both oral and written.

For this event, all sophomores choose a piece of poetry or prose to read to their English classes in an engaging, often dramatic way in no more than five minutes. Students score their peers, and the students with the highest scores from each class advance in the competition.

On April 11, the five finalists from the Class of ’16 delivered their readings to the entire student body, and a panel of judges declared the winner to be Emma Cowper of Killingworth, who read from a David Sedaris short story. The other finalists were Hayley Eicher of West Hartford, Evan Kelmar of Farmington, Vinz Umali of Manchester, and Kathryn Adams of Glastonbury.

The semifinalists were Kendall Allerton, Lexi Banasiewicz, Lauren Barnes, Chris Carangelo, Bryson Harris, Manavi Katechia, Bri Kirton, Ali Klute, Austin Lemkuil, Joana Letourneau, and Lily Wu.

Public speaking has long been an integral part of a KO education, and the Speakers’ Forum – along with the school’s outstanding debate, Model UN, and mock trial teams – offer myriad opportunities for students to hone this important skill.

The Speakers’ Forum was founded by retired KO English teacher and Forensic Union advisor Robert Googins, who taught at the school for more than 40 years.