Anderson recognized as Master Speaker
COSHOCTON – Emma Anderson has been giving speeches at 4-H public speaking events for several years and her speech on Saturday evening, Sept. 28 at the Coshocton County Fair was number 15 and gave her the right of being a Master Speaker. Anderson, who is a senior at River View, said, “It’s really fitting that this is my last speech at the county fair. When you give your fifteenth speech in the 4-H program you get the title of Master Speaker. It’s a really big accomplishment because it takes a lot of time and a lot of dedication. But once it’s done it feels really good. I started about seven or eight years ago and my first speech was on the dangers of diabetes.
“It had to be three or four minutes and boy was I scared. That was probably the biggest milestone – not knowing what to expect. I chose that topic because my grandpa was diagnosed with diabetes so learning more about it allowed me to educate myself and others on the dangers of diabetes.”
Anderson titled her speech for this year’s fair, “The Last One.”
“I’m going to be reflecting on what I’ve done in my past speeches and it fits really well with the 4-H theme, and looking back over 100 years of 4-H.”
“I’ve enjoyed a lot of my speeches and I’ve done a lot of different ones for sure but some of the ones that stand out were my first two speeches – I did a demonstration on how to take your blood sugar when I was really young and I won a clock trophy at the state fair and I did a demonstration on nutrition where I got outstanding of the day at the state fair and this one is kind of quirky but I did a demonstration on how to clean your golf clubs and it was very, very easy for me to do that demonstration because I knew a lot about it and it was fun to give.
“Everyone is terrified of public speaking but starting young in the program it gave me an opportunity to get comfortable with how I like to talk, how loud you need to be, how quick you need to talk and things like that. When I got to high school I didn’t really worry about talking in front of people because I had done it so often so this is definitely something I would recommend to anyone to get involved with.
“This will help me in college and in life. The 4-H public speaking program has given me the opportunity to get to know myself and to get comfortable with public speaking. I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity.”
Category: People & Places