Elliot Bowman stands at the entrance of a foreign school. He steps forward slowly, but not slowly enough for the crowd of excited competitors to trample him. Only after three vigorous rounds of drawing stories from a hat and preparing them for half an hour will Elliot finally have time to sit down and relax.

Although most sixth graders come into middle school not knowing which activities to join, a few take large leaps into the nerve-wracking world of speech. When asked why he joined speech, Bryson Felton replies with, “Because my sister told me to join” or that his sister would be mad if he didn’t rejoin next year. Most first-year “speechies” are excited to join and compete, but some are afraid of the illustrious competitors that they will be forced to face later on. As Braxton Ulrich explains, “Some of the people in my category were good, and I mean really good.”

Many novice speechies invented creative ways to overcome their fear. “I never really got nervous, but if I did I would just tell myself, ‘It’s okay,’” comments sixth grader Braxton Ulrich. “I [also] made friends with a girl named Amy. We’re, like, buds now. I met a lot of people I liked.” When Vienna Qualey was asked how she got over her nervousness, she confessed that Mary Franz, a speech captain, scared her.

Every sixth grade speechie faced speech friendships differently. Bryson Felton shares, “I made a few friends. They were distracting me during prep time, but after they were done disrupting me we became pretty good friends.” Elliot says, “I didn’t really talk with other people from other schools. I kept to myself a lot of the time. I did make a lot of friends from our school, though.”

Ultimately, Bryson Felton describes speech as, “A wonderful activity that you don’t have to worry about getting a concussion in.”

But when asked if they were going to quit speech or switch categories next year, all the sixth grade speechies answered with a resounding “no!” and had various reasons why – ranging from the ability to express themselves freely to friends playfully threatening them.

“And in fourth place, Elliot Bowman!” Elliot steps forward, smiling and proud of how he performed, to accept the ribbon. Sixth grade is a giant step in someone’s life, but joining a high school activity is an even larger leap. Although some people would just say that these sixth graders are just saying a speech, those people will never appreciate the accomplishment of a fourth place ribbon around their neck.