Chaparral High School called on some experts to prepare the students who will serve as the voices of the student body this year.
For Student Activities Coordinator Cantresa Scineaux, getting the word out every day regarding the vast number of opportunities on a large high school campus is a big deal.
With that in mind, for the second year, she called on her favorite local news anchors to provide some tips to students interested in reading the daily announcements and also recruited them to serve as judges in a tryout audition.
This year she added an optional hour-long public speaking workshop to the audition process.
On Wednesday after school, the sixth day of the school year, KCEN-TV morning anchors Jasmine Caldwell and Micah Wilson shared some of their knowledge of reading the news with students interested in serving as announcement readers at the school.
In addition to their early morning work on the air, the pair have considerable experience hosting community events, so they have learned some tricks to effective public speaking.
One of the biggest lessons, they said, is to bring overflowing confidence to the microphone.
That means getting to work early enough to read over the script, become familiar with the wording provided and even practice vocalizing before going on air.
To that end, the news anchors directed students to take turns speaking out loud some tongue-twisting statements.
After a couple rounds of speaking, each student took a turn describing for the group their morning routine, with the challenge of making it sound interesting, even entertaining.
The day after the workshop, Caldwell and Wilson were set to return to Chaparral to serve as judges in the student auditions for five announcement reading positions.
Chaparral senior Rihanna Jackson said she was happy to learn about public speaking whether she made the cut to be a school announcer or not.
“I think it’s something that would be fun and memorable,” she said of getting to read announcements at school. “It’s a cool way to make a memory.”
“I thought (the workshop) was super fun and very beneficial. Even if I don’t get (picked), I wanted to go to the workshop to learn about speaking confidently in crowds. That’s something you need your whole life.”
Alana Green, also a senior, said she auditioned because she wanted to “be a voice for the students and bring some positivity to their day.”
“It was amazing,” she said of the tips she received from the news anchors. “I’ve gone to public speaking workshops before and that was my favorite.”
She liked the emphasis on having confidence and said she noted the speakers’ suggestions to remember to pause to breathe and that when you stumble over a word to just keep talking.
Avery Wiltzius a Chaparral junior was part of the team that read daily announcements last year and she auditioned to do it again.
“I like doing the announcements because I love Chaparral. I love being a Bobcat. I like to express that through telling people what is happening at our school. It just comes down to loving our school,” she said.
“It was very informative,” she said of the workshop. “It was good for me to learn about projecting my voice and having confidence in front of a group.”
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