GORE BAY—Amara Wilson-Zegil, a student at Charles C. McLean Public School in Gore Bay has qualified for the Royal Canadian Legion provincial speech competition for the second time. In her speech Amara manages to link Marvel comic character Wolverine to Winston Churchill over the course of four-and-a-half minutes.
“My speech is about fear,” Amara told The Expositor. “I wanted to talk about the different fears people have, and how they can develop their public speech making abilities. I spoke about the science behind fear, different types of fear and how one very famous person, Winston Churchill had the fear of public speaking but moved on from this to become a great orator.”
Amara, who is 13, competes in the Grade 7-9 division.
“Imagine yourself as one of the worlds greatest superheroes,” states Amara in her speech, talking about Marvel comic character Wolverine, “who would not step on a plane, go up a ladder or on rooftops, as he had a fear of heights. Five percent of the world’s population has a fear of heights, about 400 million people in the world, like Wolverine, which would rather stay on the ground.”
In the case of Winston Churchill, who would go on to become one of the world’s greatest orators, Amara said that he also had gloss phobia. “Winston Churchill was a hero to many, but years before he became famous when he was elected as a new member of parliament (within the British government), he froze for three entire minutes.”
After that failed attempt at public speaking Mr. Churchill vowed to become a refined presenter and spent years practicing his technique, meticulously outlining his speeches and being deliberate about his diction.
It wasn’t until hundreds of speeches later when Churchill became prime minister in arguably the darkest time in modern day history, that he went back on that platform in the House of Commons and earned his title as one of the greatest public speakers of all time.
He developed the Winston Churchill guide to public speaking.
In her speech Amara talks about the many things that cause people fear, including for example, lint, dogs, insects, and of course public speaking. “If you have experienced turbulence while being on a plane at a young age, you could develop a fear of flying.”
“Public speaking gives you an opportunity for growth and opportunity,” said Amara.
Amara competed four times, once locally, and in Sudbury, Chelmsford and Onaping Falls over the past month-and-a-half in order to qualify for the provincial finals.
“The first competition I had was in the (C.C. McLean) school library,” said Amara. “Then I went on to the area competition, then the zones in Onaping Falls April 22 where she qualified for the provincial championship.
This is the second time she has reached the provincials. “I qualified for the provincials two years ago,” said Amara, noting that her speech at that time focussed on the 1966 Batman television series.
