EV Speech explores radio, short film

            When many people think of high school speech, the thought of a Readers Theatre or Choral Reading comes to mind. Students perform a spoken piece with or without a script, perhaps all together at times if it’s a Choral Reading. Maybe throw in a One Act Play in there too.

            But Large Group Speech has grown over the years to incorporate other areas of student communication, including the categories of Radio Broadcast and Short Film. Both categories allow the student to record their performances and present them at each competition level in front of a judge, much like with any category of Large Group Speech.

“We do at least one short film every year, ever since the category was added,” Carrie Burdick, Speech Instructor for English Valleys said. “We did our first radio news at EV last year.  They made it to state and really enjoyed it.”

            Burdick allows students freedom in picking their categories so they can be “really invested in the entire process” of the season. Among her students is senior Chloe Tapken, who competed in both categories this season.

            “I have always been interested in pop culture and figured speech would be a good way for me to express myself creatively,” Tapken said. “I find speech enjoyable because it gives you an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and be surrounded with extraordinarily talented people.”

            Two ways that Tapken chose to express herself this year were in Short Film and Radio Broadcasting.   The latter category is one she has done every year of high school, taking on a modern day twist of Romeo and Juliet for her senior year entitled “Randal and Juliet”. She joined Christina Berrier, Maggie Anthony, Anthony Moxley, and Autumn Higdon to write, act and edit the short film, playing the part of Juliet.

            “The idea for this came from an English project we all had our freshman year,” Tapken said. “In this project we were really striving to make an overdramatic comedy. Short Film has always attracted me because there are no limitations as to what you can do. I also personally love creative writing so this category is a perfect fit for me.”

Please view the February 14 edition of The News-Review for the full story.