Four finalists-- Andrew Ruben ’07, Amy Gobel ’08, Ben Firke ’08, and Rachel Kauder-Nalebuff ’08-- have emerged for this year’s Pratt-Packard Declamation Contest, to be decided at school meeting on February 21.

The competition has passed through two preliminary levels of evaluation. A reading committee, consisting of Mr. David Loeb, English teacher; Mr. Richard Stewart, HPRSS teacher and former chair of that department; and Mr. Craig Warren, senior librarian screened twenty-four submitted speeches, and selected twelve semi-finalists. The semi-finalists refined their written submission into speeches that were judged on Tuesday, January 30 by Mrs. Sandy Shanahan, a consultant on writing and speaking; Mr. Joel Backon, HPRSS teacher and Director of Academic Technology; and Ms. Gwen Heuss-Severance, Chair of the History, Psychology and Social Sciences Department were included in the panel of judges who made the final decisions.

At the School Meeting on Wednesday, February 21, 2007, the finalists will present their speeches to the entire student body. The four speeches will then be evaluated by a panel of judges embedded among the audience members. The first-place winner will receive a monetary reward of seven-hundred and fifty dollars, with lesser amounts awarded to the three runners-up.

Originally conducted as the final exam of the Public Speaking course taught by Mr. Goodyear, the Pratt-Packard Declamation Contest has long been an integral part of public speaking at Choate. A decision was made five years ago to open up the Competition to the entire school.

With a wide variety of topics, ranging from very personal to persuasive to informative, speeches are an unusual window into the minds of the Choate student body. Throughout the contest, half of the judges’ score is based on the content of the speech, while half is based on the dynamic of the presentation. Mr. Goodyear, HPRSS teacher, observes that, “The topics this year represent the gamut. They’re quite good.” Some of the topics were chosen after careful consideration and discussion, while others were decided upon spontaneously. Andrew Ruben states, “I was watching 24, and I just thought to write a speech on American foreign policy.”

The second half of the score, the actual presentation, is not as easy to come by. Some of the finalists look to Mr. Goodyear for help, since he teaches the spring Public Speaking elective. They also practice extensively. Amy Gobel states, “…And for two hours, I just read my speech to myself, over and over again, getting it perfect.” The judges will evaluate the stylisitc side of the speeches on Mr. Goodyear’s SPATE mnemonic: Stance, Projection, Articulation, Tone, and Eye contact. Since the finalists will not know who the judges are, nor where they are seated, this is the ultimate test of their Public Speaking skills, as they strive to address the entire auditorium.

The four contestants this year seem to have an equal chance of winning first place. Stated Mr. Goodyear, “They are very close, very tightly matched-- it will be a hard choice.”