Date: 4/18/22
Author: Sophia Zhang
EVHS Bring Change 2 Mind Instagram: Speak Up Showcase organizers and speakers gathered for a final photo.
On April 14th, from 6-8 pm, Evergreen Valley High School (EVHS) community members flocked to the school theater to attend the second annual Speak Up Showcase.
The event was hosted by Evergreen Valley Speech and Debate Club (EVSD) in collaboration with seven other school clubs and one student speaker: EVHS Law Club, EVHS Girl Up, EVHS Red Cross Club, EVHS Forevergreen, EVHS Key Club, EVHS Bring Change 2 Mind, and Rafan Quader.
Evergreen Valley Speech and Debate Instagram: A flyer/post advertising and providing information on the 2022 Speak Up Showcase
According to an EVSD Instagram caption, the purpose of the showcase was to “bring awareness on various social topics … while also giving a platform for evsd students to showcase their oratory skills.” At the same time, the event also served as a small fundraiser through boba sales.
The description of various is an accurate one. The diverse number of collaborators were represented in the topics discussed. These ranged from Law Club X Girl Up’s joint presentation on Diversity in Law: Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, to Bring Change 2 Mind’s presentation on Mental Health Under Social Media, to Red Cross’s discussion on Russia, Ukraine, and International Humanitarian Law.
Similarly, when asked, many attendees noted that the showcases did inspire them to do change.
Sanjana Sathishkumar, co-president of EVSD, said that Forevergreen's presentation on food waste inspired her to help make a change about the campus's food waste problem. She could see how “ our campus [was] just drowning in chocolate milk and leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Plus, Forevergreen had made it easy to help with their accessible and “specific action items … like [signing] up for volunteer hours and [managing] food waste bins on campus”.
Jack Lubbs, an attendee, corroborated this view. While he “didn’t feel that there was anything too surprising,” the showcase still “inspired [him] to act on things [he] already kinda knew,” highlighting Forevergreen’s presentation as an example.
Alternatively, Angela Young, one of Bring Change 2 Mind’s speakers, voiced that she was motivated to continue volunteering by Key Club’s presentation about how volunteerism builds community.
Other presentations spotlighted included those from the Newspaper Club, Bring Change 2 Mind, and Rafan Quader. Vaibhava Rajesh, a speaker from EVHS Girl Up, voiced that the Newspaper presentation on Totalitarianism 101: How Dictatorships Arise, given by Jason Lin, was her favorite due to how it balanced being very engaging with a lot of jokes and being super informational. "It felt like I was watching … Hassan Minhaj … from Patriot Act." Rajesh complimented. Angela also noted that Newspaper Club’s presentation led her to have more appreciation for the dedication and work of journalists.
Sophia Zhang: Newspaper Speaker Jason Lin presenting on the importance of journalism and a free press for combatting totalitarianism.
Sathishkumar added that she really liked Bring Change to Mind's presentation because it was really interactive with the audience. She expanded, saying that "They had a board that they passed out and had people write on and stick up Post-Its… they also had a word cloud so people could submit their ideas and it would display on the screen.”
EVHS Bring Change 2 Mind Instagram: Jason Lin holding up the poster board utilized by Bring Change 2 Mind speakers to have audience input.
Lastly, Lubbs thought that Rafan Quader’s speech on the depth of conversation made him think about “how we talk about stuff” and how a “conversation [is] a group thought,” which “was interesting.”
Overall, the experience for attendees and speakers alike was largely overwhelmingly positive.
Sathishkumar said “I think it's a very unique experience … and also very fun, very fun,” while Lubbs “thought it was pretty good” and “liked the structure of having a bunch of different clubs.”
This success was largely due to the enthusiasm and engagement of each collaborator. The planning process initially started out difficult because as Sathishkumar noted, the club-wide cooperation in holding the showcase required led to a lot of uncertainty as to whether other clubs would join the event and whether they would truly contribute to the presentation process, or “just take a seat in the back.” She continued to elaborate that doubts showed up, and she started to think, “‘Is it even possible to have a showcase? Is it even possible for us to arrange it?’”
Fortunately, after this initial hurdle of finding collaborators and their first initial in-person planning meeting, everything else "just fell in place” and was smooth sailing. Sathishkumar attributed this part to her earlier fear of clubs not being willing to be active workers as being unfounded. Instead, “every single club was so engaged.”
Moving forward, there are still positive changes that the Speak Up Showcase could make that attendees and speakers suggest. Rajesh and Lubbs both stated that the number of audience members could increase, with Rajesh suggesting expanding outreach beyond EV and Lubbs suggesting that more clubs could be invited. Young also proposed inviting guest speakers from universities or organizations to hear from those with higher education. Last, Sathishkumar thought it would be cool if they could “change up the mediums of the presentations because right now it's all mainly presentation slides…just for a little bit of diversity, a little bit of flavor.
Comments