No Loss for Words: Canfield District hosts speech tournament

January 10, 2016 at 12:07a.m.

CANFIELD

As this year progresses, should the nation do more to address environmental issues, re-examine its attitudes toward Islam and be more proactive in handling the refugee crisis in the Middle East?

Those were the key questions Garrett McGinty tried to tackle in detail in a matter of minutes.

“I gave two speeches – one on gay marriage and the other on foreign policy,” the Austintown Fitch High School senior said. He was referring to the challenge he faced Saturday while taking part in the Canfield Speech & Debate Tournament at Canfield High School.

The Kiwanis Club of Western Mahoning County sponsored the two-day competition, which kicked off Friday and also took place at Canfield Village Middle School.

An estimated 450 students from 16 area high schools, as well as one each from Solon and the Pittsburgh area, participated in the tournament. Among the 12 events were public speaking, acting in one- and two-person plays and debating a variety of topics, noted Jeremy Hamilton, director of Canfield High’s speech and debate team.

Also included were rounds in which some students drafted simulated pieces of legislation, while others “voted” on them, much like what happens in Congress, Hamilton said.

For each of his two rounds in the “extemporaneous speaking,” category, McGinty selected one of three questions on which to base his presentations.

He was given 30 minutes to conduct research online and prepare to deliver his seven-minute speeches with no notes, explained McGinty, who’s also president of his school’s speech and debate team and may consider entering the Air Force Academy to be a pilot.

“It keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the U.S.,” McGinty said, adding that the experiences have helped to build his self-confidence.

A different sort of tight challenge faced senior Briana Davis and junior Marina Merlo, both of whom are part of Columbiana High School’s speech team. They opted for the category “duo interpretation.”

“We had to act out different scenes. How Narnia comes to be, we keep a secret,” Davis said, referring to having selected characters for their 10-minute adaptation of the popular 1955 C.S. Lewis book “The Magician’s Nephew,” part of the “Chronicles of Narnia” series.

Both girls also praised their coach, Trisha Nord, for her encouragement and grooming.

“The most-important thing she tells us is: ‘Put yourself in the story and what you’re saying; imagine it around you,’” Merlo said, adding that she feels close to the other 30 to 40 team members.

Rosie Bresson, a Canfield High senior, chose the best-selling book “Finding Me” as the basis for her one-person offering in the tournament’s drama-interpretation category.

“It really opened my eyes to how strong she was,” Bresson said, referring to author Michelle Knight, one of the three young women kidnapped in Cleveland and held captive for more than 10 years before being rescued in May 2013.

Bresson added that she hopes to be part of a musical-theater group and pursue acting after high school.

The numerous difficulties many soldiers have faced upon returning from Afghanistan and Iraq heavily influenced Jack Cross’ decision for his one-man performance portraying a young Army veteran who is the main character in Michael Anthony’s book, “Mass Casualties: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq.”

“This is the first year I’ve picked a piece by myself,” said Cross, adding that his grandfather was a Marine who had served in Vietnam. “I wanted to do something that’s relevant and with a message about something that’s important.”

“I picked drama as a challenge,” Cardinal Mooney High School senior Gino Ginnetti said in explaining why he selected “Jason,” a short story by Canadian author and playwright Betty Jane Wylie about a young man with mental challenges who applies to live in a subsidized apartment after having been sexually assaulted.

The character’s traumatic experiences also helped him to be more thankful for what he has, added Ginnetti, who plans to study biomedical engineering.

In addition, the tournament gave participants opportunities to befriend and network with one another while building their self-confidence and sense of teamwork, said Canfield coach Hamilton.

“They really get into this,” he said. “It’s like a community of learners.”