Creativity Rules The Day During The Extemporaneous Speaking Content

The Fenn core value of courage was embraced by fifteen student finalists in grades 6-9 in this morning's legendary Hector J. Hughes Extemporaneous Speaking Contest. Each finalist received his topic moments before taking the stage to weave his own brand of storytelling in front of an audience of 400+ students, faculty, staff, and guests.

Thank you to contest emcee Dave Duane, to esteemed judges Kyle Butler from Admissions, Sarah Wieland from Advancement, and Nancy Romanik from Summer Fenn, and to English Department Chair Jill MacKinnon for spearheading the entire effort leading up to today.

While all finalists deserve praise for their incredible efforts under the stage lights, three winners were named by the judges. Eighth grader Peter Mokoro took the top prize for his response to "An ode to the all you can eat buffet: a love story." This is the third straight year in which Mokoro has placed in this historic speaking event. He claimed the top spot once before in 2022 and was an honorable mention last year in 2023.

Ninth graders William Huang and Patch Remington secured honorable mentions this year. William connected with the audience with his response to "What if gravity took a day off?" while Patch gave a creative answer to "If I were invisible for a day, here’s what definitely would happen."

Other finalists included James Blanchfield, Nolan Kohut, Shep Leonard, Hugh Morgan, Cass Myler, Owen Noble, Grant Turner, Warren Turner, Ross Wein, Ben Woodard, Vincent Wu, and Wilder Wyman-Jones. Bravo to all of our students who took a chance to speak with courage!