From “Roller Coasters All Over” to “The Blake Center is a Casino,” fourteen 8th graders presented their own unique and extraordinary rule change proposals to the Middle School in the Squealer Speech competition, an annual 8th grade public speaking competition where students show their understanding of manipulative persuasion abilities. This year Cassie Koplan won the annual competition with her speech “Install The Cameras Now.”
For the competition, students create a humorous speech proposing and promoting a ridiculous rule change after having read Animal Farm and having learned about different types of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques.
In a major change, this year the students delivered their speeches at the eighth grade retreat instead of at school in the Oglesby Room. 8th grade English teacher Corey Goergen referred to this change as a “happy accident” created by some scheduling issues. Before the event, Goergen predicted that having the speeches at the retreat would hopefully boost excitement. “People are really excited about the retreat and so we’re hoping some of that excitement carries over into the speeches,” he said.
8th grader Ben Wininger described the speeches at the retreat as a fun experience. “The speeches give us a night where everyone gives stupid ideas and we all laugh about them,” he said.
Middle School Civic Engagement Coordinator Carter Thomas also thought that this year having the speeches at the retreat was an amazing experience. “I have attended the Squealer Speech competition before, and this year’s felt like the best—without question,” she said. “The retreat as the ‘host site’ gave it more meaning and build-up, and even the Wheelhouse as a setting gave a more powerful punch to the project. Some students even brought costumes, and the decorating propaganda made it feel real. I felt like 8th graders got into it more, too, and the retreat gave it more special meaning.”
After a quick voting process, Cassie Koplan was announced the winner. “Although coming up in front of the grade was nerve wracking, in the end I thought it was an amazing experience,” she said.
Koplan believes that she won because of her presentation style. “I think my speech incorporated sarcasm in a . . . different and creative way which I think won over the judges. Also [they liked] my chant at the end ‘Install the Cameras Now!’” she said. However, she also acknowledged that she faced tough competition. “I believe Jazzy had the best speech because it was so funny and well written.”
This year’s competition not only featured a location change, but the competition was expanded to include students’ inventing a creative propaganda campaign.. Leading up to the retreat, groups of students in each class developed an ad campaign to back up their class winner’s speech. These ad campaigns had to include one meme, one micro-blog post, one poster, one Google slide, one social media post, and an extra disinformational element like a video ad or a marketing stunt. These campaigns filled the days leading up to the event to heighten the excitement.
8th grader Zoe Harless said that she especially liked one of the ads for Cassie Koplan’s speech “Install The Cameras Now.” “I think that it is funny and makes the teachers look weird,” she said.
The faculty also found themselves pulled down the disinformational spiral around the Squealer Speeches, and they enjoyed the wild ride. “I LOVED the Squealer Speeches; I thought they were creative, hilarious, and poignant! The spam texts were also a fabulous way to get hyped up for them. It’s a really creative project, and I love the way both students and teachers engage together.” Thomas said.
Overall the class of 2030’s annual Squealer Speech competition offered a fun, funny, and dangerously persuasive experience for the whole eighth grade and their faculty advisors. Thomas hopes the changes will stick. “I am already looking forward to next year’s speeches, and I hope they take place at Sharp Top again!”