The finalists, including winner Trista LeBlanc-Serbyn ’22, shared their speeches via Zoom instead of at a school meeting. Photo by Gretchen MacLean/The Choate News
On May 5, the finalists of the annual Pratt-Packard Declamation Contest, Sakura Hayakawa ’21, Joe Monti ’21, Adrienne Chacón ’22, and Trista LeBlanc-Serbyn ’22 delivered their speeches on the online platform Zoom to a panel of faculty judges. LeBlanc-Serbyn won first place, followed by Chacón, Monti, and Hayakawa.
Students were able to watch the speeches in a recording of a virtual School Meeting emailed to the community by Dean of Students Mr. Mike Velez ’00.
The Pratt-Packard Contest, which honors the tradition of public speaking at Choate, is one of several public speaking contests held annually by the School. The contest is open to fourth, fifth, and sixth formers. All participating students are asked to compose a speech to be reviewed by a reading committee composed of faculty members.
The committee chooses eight speeches for a semifinal round in which students deliver the speeches only to the judges. The panel of judges selects four finalists. Though finalists have traditionally delivered their speeches live at School Meeting, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic forced this year’s finalists to deliver their speeches online over a Zoom call.
Contestants had conflicting opinions about the online nature of the contest, especially surrounding the fact that fewer people could listen to their speeches live. For Monti, who spoke about the ways in which his mother’s love has shaped his view of the world, the smaller live audience lowered the stress of the event. He said, “I think the online nature of the contest was a positive for me since there weren’t as many eyes watching me, which would have made me more nervous.”
Other participants were disappointed that they could not present to a live Choate audience and felt challenged about the online nature of the contest. Hayakawa, who decided to enter the contest with the goal of inciting conversations about toxic masculinity at Choate, said, “I was personally disappointed about the finals being held online since I submitted my speech partly because of the opportunity to speak in front of the School. I also think that the online nature of the contest made it much harder to gauge the reaction of the audience.”
Still, the finalists said they enjoyed the chance to share their personal stories, voice their opinions, and start conversations across the school community.
LeBlanc-Serbyn’s speech discussed her year-long medical leave and the stigma surrounding mental health issues. She said, “I was inspired to write this because I was so frustrated by the ‘myth’ of medical leaves and wanted to share a little bit of truth behind it all.”
Chacón delivered a speech about the loss of her father and how she has coped with the sense of a void, longing, and other mixes of emotions. She said, “I don’t often tell other people that I have lost a parent. I suppose I don’t want people to know that, and I don’t want others to think that all he is is gone.” Chacón added, “The contest was exciting. I enjoyed the suspense of knowing how well I did, and I was happy that I was able to share some part of who my dad was to me, at least, with everyone.”
