Two Local Girls Immune to Stage Fright

Increased heart rate, sweaty palms, nausea, dry mouth – it is commonly said that people fear public speaking more than death.

But for senior Shaye Heyman and junior Ella Taggart that “fear” is a passion which, coupled with hard work, carried them to the winners circle at this year's Minnesota State Speech Tournament this past April.

Heyman placed 3rd in the category of Creative Expression, and Taggart placed 5th in the category of Discussion.

 According to coach, Anitra Trapp, the win was no surprise despite the competitiveness of state-level speech.

“They have competed strongly all season, and when I sat in on their rounds the day of competition, I was so impressed by their performances that I would have been surprised had they not made it to finals and placed,” she said.

Heyman's category, Creative Expression, requires the competitor to write his or her own eight minute speech, memorize it and then deliver it to an audience.

Titled A Bleeding Schilling, Heyman's monologue told the Dickensian story of a young girl in poverty set in the 1830s.

While she was giving her speech at the state tournament, Heyman said that she saw one of the judges close his eyes during a descriptive portion of her story.

“That was a good sign for me because he had the look like he was dreaming it in his head. That made me really happy,” she said. “Really, if I got sixth place, and I just had that look in my mind, I would have been fine because I know that I was at least touching somebody.”

According to Trapp, Heyman uses her gift of creative expression well.

“Shaye is an amazing writer and gives one of the most emotional presentations I have ever seen,” she said. “She has the ability to draw you in with her eyes and the ability to convey great emotion.”

Taggart's category, Discussion, requires its competitors to research a broad topic – this year's was Western Hemisphere Relations – and then discuss in a round-table setting with six to eight other competitors a given specific scenario related to that broad topic.

The winner is the “best leader” who has the most information and effectively includes everyone else participating in the discussion.

When Taggart started speech in eighth grade, Discussion was not the category she originally intended for herself.

“They put me in it even after I told them I didn't really want to do research, and it turned out that I was really good at it,” she remembered. “I really loved learning about what was going on around the world.”

Trapp watched that love of learning in action all season long.

“Ella has spent many hours during the almost six-month season researching her topic and developing strategies,” she said “She is extremely knowledgeable about the world topics presented to her.”

According to both girls, speech has shaped their current lives and influenced their futures.

“I think it's honestly decided my career,” said Taggart who is interested in pursuing political science. “I just can't picture myself not doing something or not helping somebody or fixing a problem to better the world.”

Said Heyman, “I don't think anything I've done in my school has changed me more than speech has. It gave me this confidence that I've never felt before.”

Head speech coach, Pam Tremblay, remembering Heyman at the very beginning said, “she came to us a shy girl that wouldn't even make eye contact and take off her hood. She is now captain of our team and motivates others to do well.”

Heyman will be attending the University of Mexico and intends to be a communications major in mass media.

“It's really incredible when you think about it,” said Heyman. “Statistics show that people fear public speaking more than they fear death – I do it every weekend for fun.”

“We get up early at 5 a.m. to do what people fear,”said Taggart.

“More than death,” finished Heyman.

Heyman was recently awarded a scholarship for being one of the top 10 first place winning essayists in the Holocaust Remembrance Project.

As a winner of the VFW Voice of Democracy Scholarship, Heyman recently performed her winning speech at the Waconia Memorial Day program.