By Shelby Jenkins
The Hawkeye
Bloomfield Hills HS
1st Place Division 1, News Writing
News Story
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Sharp, attention-getting lead that underscores news story importance
- Uses inverted pyramid
- Emphasizes news elements, i.e. timeliness, nearness, impact, and prominence
- Shows thorough reporting skills
- Effective use of facts/quotes from both primary and secondary sources
- Avoids opinion unless properly attributed
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely, and vividly
- Proper diction/grammar; use of third person
On January 10, senior Kiersten McCollum was honored as a finalist for Michigan Student Voice, a speech contest available to students in Student Leadership; as a result, she landed a presentation spot at the state conference.
“It was super surreal,” said McCollum. “I was definitely shocked for a good two days. Afterward, it had really hit me: wow, I’m going to the state conference to give a speech in front of a couple of thousand people.”
Michigan Student Voice’s goal is to spread messages of importance according to the Michigan Associate of Student Councils and Honors Society. Students create three-minute and 20-second presentations that combine images with public speaking to share a message on a topic the student selected. Students then present at their respective regional conferences and advance to the state conference if their peers vote them through.
“My speech was called ‘The Hidden Symptoms of Stigmation.’ The whole premise of it was based around the stigmas surrounding sexual assault and PTSD, and ways to combat [them],” said McCollum. “I feel like it wasn’t so much a thing for me telling other people as a woman but me telling other people as a Student Leader because we’re supposed to be the people representing the community and standing up for [others]. If we don’t know what certain things we’re supposed to be standing up for, then I feel like we’re missing an entire area of people we could be helping.”
Student Leadership advisors Krista Laliberte and Emily Handy had offered this opportunity to students in the past, but this year was the first time any student had chosen to apply.
“We let them know that there’s a contest, how it works, and that there’s an opportunity for a scholarship at the end, but it is 100 percent on them to determine what they write about, talk about, present, and [prepare]. We just support whatever they decide to do,” said Laliberte. “This year, we were lucky enough to have actually three individuals [Kiersten McCollum, Taylor Hughes and Gavin Raab] run. They all did an amazing job at the regional conference but they only take one person per regional.”
After the final presentation at the regional conference on January 10, voting took place and McCollum was selected as the winner.
“For me, it was her speech. [It] was very different from the other kids’,” said Handy. “She just had a mix of poise and humor but then also a very serious story. I think the story itself was powerful but her delivery was just so good. A lot of people had great stories to share but I think it was her presentation overall and her competence.”
McCollum will present at the state conference, which begins on February 29, for the chance to receive a scholarship.
“I have a passion for public speaking and no matter what the topic is or where it is, I always have the same general goal, which is that I hope to impact at least one person’s life. That’s my whole goal. Especially on this big of a spectrum, I just love to give people another thing to think about.”