Goodbye CAS

I’ll admit, this speech class was a much better experience than my previous public speaking class. My first experience in ninth grade left me a little scarred, but all in all, this class, as well as my own speaking experience, was not as terrible as I had expected. At the beginning, just the thought of having to give any type of speech nearly had me shaking already. As I prepared to give my first speech, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was. I practiced a lot, but I was still able to keep my anxiety under control. When I got to class on my speaking day, that’s when all of my nerves really hit me. I was shaking a bit and I read most of my speech right from my outline, as well as speaking too quickly. I didn’t really carry this over to the second speech, as it was about the same.

I do feel like I learned a great deal from this class. I’m always extremely anxious and I criticize myself too harshly, which I’ve learned not to do. I’ve gained some experience speaking in front of a group of people which will help me later in my college career. I have also learned that public speaking is in fact a large part of our lives and the skills I’ve learned will carry over to anything that I choose to do in my future.