The idea of delivering a speech before a large group of people can, for many, be an anxiety-inducing situation. The idea of putting oneself out there for the undivided attention of their peers doesn’t happen every day and thus, is usually met with unease and discomfort.
Yet it was the uncomfortable feeling Rahul Ravula, a 16-year-old Hillsborough High School sophomore and Eagle Scout with Troop 89, wanted to alleviate in 20 students through his eight-week program, hosted at the Hillsborough Township Public Library.
The Youth Leadership and Public Speaking program, which started back in January, held its first graduation ceremony last Saturday. Aimed at giving township youths the tools necessary to craft, deliver and critique speeches while boosting their own confidence on the stage, Ravula first ran the program as a fundraising effort for his Eagle Scout project.
After completing the program’s first run last July, Ravula said he enjoyed sharing his interest in public speaking so much that he decided to continue the program as a way to “give back to the community.”
“There’s not much emphasis on public speaking in our schools, so I decided to start this program,” he said.
As the program’s sole instructor, Ravula said he learned and gained an interest in public speaking after attending a nearby Toastmasters International’s Educational Testing Service (ETS) program for the last seven years.
Toastmasters International is a communication and leadership development organization that helps members improve their speaking and leadership skills. According to the organization’s website, there are more than 16,000 clubs in 141 countries.
“I have some experience in public speaking, [so] I just decided that I would convey my knowledge to the students,” he said. “I had lots of fun speaking in front of audiences and that’s why I wanted to teach students the same thing.”
Though the curriculum closely mimics much of the Toastmasters’ lesson plan, Ravula said he reconfigured it for a younger audience. Still, he said his first group of 20 pupils covered topics like the different roles of public speaking, how to deliver an impromptu speech, how to time prepared speeches and how to count and eliminate unwanted words and pauses like “uh” and “um.”
In order to help students out of their shells, Ravula said he would assign two kids each week to be either the “jokemaster” or the “wordmaster.” The former would come back the following week to tell a joke in front of the class to ease the tension, while the latter would teach their classmates a new word that they would need to use in an upcoming speech.
That level of collaboration, Ravula said, was integral to the program, which he hopes will help prepare participants for real world scenarios.
“In the corporate world, it’s very important that you know how to speak in front of large audiences,” he said.
When it came to crafting speeches, Ravula said students largely chose their own topics. Over the course of the program’s eight weeks, he said he was surprised at just how well his pupils took to the challenge.
“In the beginning of the program, the students were very shy and wouldn’t speak to each other. But by the end, I noticed they were able to speak in front of large audiences and generally more comfortable on stage,” he said. “It’s very impressive to see these kids improve so much.”
With the program’s first iteration considered a success at the library, Ravula said it will be making a comeback for a spring session. Registration is currently open and will run until mid-April, though it is capped again at 20 students.
“I want to keep doing this,” Ravula said. “Hopefully when my brother Sahil gets into high school, he can help me run another class, so we can cater to more students.”
