The University of Richmond's Speech Center invited students from Church Hill Academy to campus to tell their stories.
"I will not let my anger define me," Briana Cary said in her speech. "But it has been an obstacle in my life."
Cary, a freshman at Church Hill Academy and street leader in Church Hill Activities and Tutoring, an after-school tutoring program sponsored by the school, spoke about growing up in a single-parent home with a brother who told her that their dad left because of her.
Cary came to campus as part of CHAT's "Wacky Wednesdays," the day that students participate in life-skills classes. Richmond seniors Megan McNamara and Elizabeth Moore and sophomore David Burchard work with the students to improve their communication skills and presentation.
"The thing we hear most from kids is 'I don't have a story,'" Moore said, "which is incredibly not true. It's just that no one's asked them."
When Cary finished her speech, Burchard and Mackenzie Mumey, service group coordinator for CHAT and a Richmond alum, gave their feedback, focusing on correcting Cary's swaying behind the podium and bringing more emotion to her speaking.
Cary delivered her speech Saturday, Feb. 19, at the I Have a Dream event at Third Presbyterian Church in Richmond. She watched a video of herself delivering the speech and critiqued her movements and facial expressions with Burchard and Mumey.
McNamara said she had come up with the idea for the program in her Theory and Pedagogy class with professor Linda Hobgood, a class required to become a speech consultant. As part of their final project, students had to present a new program for the Speech Center.
McNamara wanted to connect the Speech Center with the greater Richmond community, but wanted to work with people to whom it would make a difference, she said. She did not want to work with CEOs or big companies because they had money to pay for consultants, she said, so she looked to at-risk children at Church Hill Academy.
"Communication can be a barrier between people separated by economic and social conditions," Moore said. "So we are giving them a tool that goes beyond any academic subject."
McNamara, Moore and Burchard also travel to Church Hill Academy every other Friday to attend the Public Speaking class now offered at Church Hill Academy by Caitlin Barnes. The three Richmond students help critique the speeches that children work on the rest of the week.
It was an early morning, McNamara said, because they leave campus around 7:30 on a Friday morning to get downtown in time for the class. But it is a great start to her morning, she said.
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The purpose of the program was to improve public speaking skills, said Mumey, but then they saw how the children opened up about their own stories.
Many children had experienced a lot in their lives but had never been able to verbally process it all before, he said, so that really became their focus.
They each have fantastic, phenomenal stories, Moore said, and now they have an audience who can give feedback.
One reason the program was so successful was the relatively small age difference between the high school students and the Richmond students, Moore said. They are able to form friendships with each other, she said.
It was hard to always stay professional while listening to these stories, Moore said. Some of the stories were so emotional, that it was hard to find the line between listening as their friend and listening as their instructor, Moore said.
"You see in the students that something changes while they tell their stories," Moore said. "They take on another persona and really come into their own while speaking."
It was a great opportunity for the high school students to see a college campus and realize the benefits of an education, McNamara said.
Cary said the program had helped her improve her speaking and said her favorite part of the Speech Center sessions had been the D-Hall dinners afterward.
Contact staff writer Brittany Brady at brittany.brady@richmond.edu
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