In the fall of 1996, my sophomore year of high school, one of my friends talked me into trying out for the high school speech team. Now, as strange as it may seem now, I was very, very, very shy in high school. Well, at least the first 2 years of it. My friend desperately wanted to try out and wanted someone to go with her. I went with, because I'm a pushover, and I knew I wouldn't make it but wanted her to at least have a chance.
Well, I made it. I was shocked. SHOCKED. I don't even remember the try outs. (Oh, my friend made it too.) I do remember the first meeting I had with my new coach, Mr. Ewan. He said, "Well, I'm giving you a chance because I think you could be good. So, try not to suck too bad." My goodness, that man scared me.
My sophomore year on the speech team was very uneventful. I don't actually remember too much of it. I remember practices where Mr. Ewan would patiently (and sometimes not patiently) try to get me to come out of my shell. Mr. Ewan was a very sarcastic, cynical man, and I absolutely adored him. I hated disappointing him and loved loved loved making him laugh, because it was hard to do. He put me in Humorous Interpretation (HI) because he thought I was funny or could be funny ("My god, Virginia, that line's supposed to be funny, not boring. I'm dying over here. Dying!) I would bring books and crocheting on bus trips and overnights (because I'm soooo cool) and just tried not to forget my lines or mess up too bad during competitions. I made a couple of friends, but really kept to myself mostly. Looking back, I feel so bad for the judges who had to watch me perform. It totally sucks watching half-ass speeches being given.
For some reason, Mr. Ewan still saw potential in me. He made me promise to try out the next year and "hopefully we'll get you to, you know, act or something".
Junior year was a whole new ball game. I missed the speech team desperately over the summer and felt confident that I could do better my second year. I tried out and wrote my own speech, which had all three coaches laughing. Mr. Ewan pulled me aside after try-outs and said, "Hm. Looks like you found it." Because I knew the drill and what competitions were like, I threw myself into practices. I was in more events and even was given a partner for Humorous Duet Acting (HDA). Mr. Ewan thought I was funny, which I found baffling, but decided to trust him. I actually started making it to finals and realized the power of laughter. Dear lord, it is intoxicating. Mr. Ewan found that I did much better if I had a crowd watching me during practices, so he started pulling kids from the hallways waiting their turn for practices to come and watch me, "cause god knows she sucks without an audience".
Junior year I also tried out for the school plays. Once again, I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it, but my sister wanted me to try out because she was, so I gave it a whirl. Mr. Smith was the director, and the play was Little Women. I ended up winning the role of "Marmee" and found myself pretty busy with speech and play practice. (Oh, and my sister made the crew and became "The Wardrobe Mistress".) A lot of the same people in the plays were also in speech. It made practices very comfortable. I found that I absolutely adored being on stage. I loved everything about it. I loved the costumes, the props, having multiple people to act with. On opening night, I was very nervous about walking on stage with an audience actually watching. Turns out, though, that when there's a large audience, I end up doing a better job of performing. I ended up making the lead role in the spring play, "You Can't Take It With You".
Senior year, I was co-captain of the speech team. I added Special Occasion Speaking (SOS) to my list of speeches and was in both the fall (Our Town) and spring (Auntie Mame) plays as well. Definitely no longer the wall flower, I took my job as co-captain to heart and recruited freshman that I thought would make great speechies. Some of the friends I made through the plays were also trying out for the speech team, and I'd say my senior year, we had one of the best teams ever. Not only were they talented (cause they super were), they were good people. I know that we were all kids, but, honestly, this group of young people were phenomenal individuals. Still are.
After high school, I ended up joining the speech team at my community college (Illinois Central College). My fellow co-captain went with me and I really enjoyed competing at a college level. We traveled a lot more and it was definitely more challenging, but I still loved performing. I also continued to be involved with my old high school team and judged at competitions.
There are very few moments in time where you can say, "That. That moment is what changed my life forever." Joining speech team is one of those moments for me. You see, if I hadn't joined the speech team, I don't know that I ever would have gotten over my shyness. Without the speech team, I never would have continued acting into college or even my adult life. I never would have become friends with the other speechies, most of whom, I am still good friends with today. If I hadn't had the immense privilege of having Mr. Ewan as my coach, constantly pushing me to become the best Virginia I could be, I never would have tried out for the plays at the high school. Which is sad to think about, because that's where I met Evan. He'd joined the speech team and won the role of "Laurie" in Little Women. I pretty much had a crush on Evan from the minute I met him. And where would I be without Evan? It's too sad to think about, quite honestly.
I know that I have rambled on about this, (thank you for indulging me), but I have had these kids on my mind a lot lately. One of those excellent freshman passed away and the funeral is tomorrow. And even though I haven't been in contact with a lot of them in years now, I still have "my freshmen" forever in my mind as how I met them--young, 14 year olds with so much potential and talent that it's mind boggling. They have all been so successful in life, it's hard to see one of them leave this earth so soon.
I have endless photos of these wonderful people that I befriended on the speech team, but, alas, that was before digital cameras. And, I have no scanner, so I have a few that were up on our high school's webpage.
Benny T. and me in Our Town my senior year.
My girls: Lacy and Meg. They were part of the freshman crew my senior year. This was Evan's senior year of speech, I believe.
An excellent group of people. Excellent.
Lovely ladies.
Matt, Cole and Evan, their senior year.
Oh I love this! I met my husband at speech camp, and I also don't know where I would be without it. I saw that production of Our Town b/c my brother was in it-- you were fab!! I miss Mr. Smith.
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