This week, GCE’s junior class will be participating in Chicago’s Soapbox Competition. The competition begins in classrooms throughout Chicago, and finalists will move on to the Citywide Public Speaking Competition on Saturday, November 13th at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Project Soapbox is a call to action. It gives high school students the opportunity to voice their ideas and solutions about what they feel is important in their neighborhoods, their city, their country, or the world at large. All students must work to answer the question: What is the most important issue facing your community?
GCE students: please reflect on your experience writing and presenting your work. Here are some prompts to get you started:
*What topic did you decide to focus on for your soapbox presentation? Why?
*What was the purpose of the piece? Do you think you effectively engaged/persuaded your audience?
*What did you learn, discover, or realize while working on your speech? Explain.
*What about your speech makes you proud of it? Why?
*After listening to your peers present, what issues are you now more aware of/concerned about?
*Was there a particular speech (other than your own) that you really enjoyed/appreciated? Explain.
To see what Project Soapbox is all about, check out some speeches from last year’s citywide finalists!