If kids could run for president of the United States, Hershey’s and Skittles sales would skyrocket, fruit and vegetable farms would go out of business, and parents would be required to clean their rooms. At least that would be what would happen if fifth grader Luke LoPresti were to be elected to the highest position in the land.
Luke won the Lower School Extemporaneous Speaking Contest earlier this winter, for which thirty boys in the Lower School competed for a place among the ten finalists, responding to prompts such as “Why I hate snow days,” “My worst Christmas present,” and “I picked up a shell at the beach and…”.
The winner, and runners-up Denny Morgan and Michael Mariani, were selected by George Scott, Jon Byrd, and Winnie Smith; the boys were judged on structure, expression, stage presence, humor, and coherence. The finalists had five minutes to prepare their presentation after being given a topic.
The Hector J. Hughes Extemporaneous Speaking Contest is held each December in Ward Hall for Middle and Upper School students. A Lower School version was established three years ago by popular demand among fourth and fifth graders. The finalists, besides Luke, Denny, and Michael, were Harrison Wei, Oliver Ali, Marc Quintanar (missing from photo), Hudson Wesel, Ben Lisa, Sam Dean, and Nicholas Frumkin.