Another 10% are genuinely terrified.” And, Moran goes on to note, the middle 80% of speakers still battle with butterflies and nerves.

Public speaking is a needed competency, so practice is essential. Last Saturday morning, 108 students signed on to tackle the 2023 Seahawk Speech Tournament. Students spent the morning in presentation-mode, cycling through three rounds of competition, expending courage and energy. While students had different levels of preparedness and comfort in front of an audience, all students left the tournament with valuable public speaking experience. A big congratulations to all who participated, including students from Naples Christian Academy! And a big thank you to the 22 CSN teachers who served as speech judges. US Science teacher Kelly Percivall said, “The students were amazing and I struggled to do my best ranking them when they were all so good.” The annual Seahawk Speech Tournament is open to students in grades 4-12. The next tournament will be held in January 2024.

US Storytelling
1^st Place: Priya Anjali Deonarine (10)
MS Storytelling
1^st Place: Emmey Siek (8)
2^nd Place: Tyler Foland (7), Bahihyih Ostrom (7)
3^rd Place: Julia Papenfuss (7), Elliott Norman (7), Stella Massoll (7)
US Poetry
1^st Place: Adeline Brown (12)
MS Poetry
1^st Place Arabella Ahammad (7)
2^nd Place: Ariana Sharma (6
3^rd Place Aruna Deonarine (7), Sophia Ustayev (6)
US Prose/Drama
1^st Place: Tadeusz Potocki (11)
MS Prose/Drama
1^st Place: Berkley Young (7)
2^nd Place: George Barbounis (8)
LS Prose/Drama
1^st Place: Katherine Prebish (4)
2^nd Place: Pearl Owen (4)
US Impromptu
1^st Place: Asher Carriero (11)
2^nd Place: Mimi Goldberg (9)
3^rd Place: Sonia Patel (11), Anthony Avola (9), Jonah Miller (9)
MS Impromptu
1^st Place: Harold Hoffman (7)
2^nd Place: Truman Mitchell (6)
3^rd Place Myles Freedman (7)
LS Oratory
1^st Place: Lilian Hughes (5)
MS Oratory
1^st Place: Abigail Dean (8)
2^nd Place: Grace Savage (8), Grace Shahraki (7)
3^rd Place: Luke Halcom (7), Jagelys Carrion Paulino (8)
LS Sales
1^st Place: Aidan Sharma (5)
MS Sales1^st Place: Matthew Patskan (7), Sarina Weng (7)
2^nd Place Lexi Clark (7)
3^rd Place: Nick Barac (7), Matteo Del Lago (7), Luca Musico (7)