Skyview Middle School Students Teach the Lessons at 'Kid Conference'

A group of eighth-graders at plunged into the turbulent seas of public speaking last week—and turned fear into confidence in about 20 minutes.

Brett Latterell’s Enriched Integrated Language Arts class hosted the fourth-annual Kid Conference, which is a series of diverse seminars put on by students who delve into topics of their choice.

“The Kid Conference offers a slice of the student’s life that teachers and parents don’t always get to see,” Latterell said. “The students are asked to dig deeper into the things that interest them, and then present the information they find in a clear, concise and upbeat manner.”

Those interests were varied Thursday night when Elohi Urhieyovwe dove deep into the minds of assassins; Marissa Kiefer got nostalgic speaking about narwhals—or as she describes them: “The unicorn of the sea;” Brooklynn Duggan walked an English Mastiff named Louie into her presentation; and Victoria Orlando struck a chord with her audience during her Warped Tour presentation.

Ayden Mains said she loves animals, so she decided to dig into the cruel realities of puppy mills. She gathered information from various sources on the Web, cross-referenced her findings, and visited the Animal Humane Society in Woodbury.

During the research process, students learn about author bias, finding valid sources online and confirming facts when they are confronted with conflicting information, Latterell said.

When the research is done, it’s time to present the findings.

Mains nervously stood before an audience of teachers, parents and peers. Her voice shook as she started in on the 20-minute presentation she had been working on for six weeks.

As the minutes passed, her trembling voice strengthened and she confidently passed along information about a topic she is passionate about. She highlighted major puppy mill busts, showed a heart-wrenching video and gave a demonstration to help her audience physically understand a puppy’s pain.

As the classroom chairs filled for her presentation, she said, “I felt like I was going to throw up. I had to remind myself to relax, chill out and not be so jumpy.”

“Then I got used to it,” she continued. “I realized it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Across the hall, Felicia Philibert was giving her presentation: “Vegetarianism to the Max.”

Her father, Harry Philibert, was among the audience members. He said he knew his daughter put a lot of work into her presentation—and that she enjoys being in front of a crowd.

“But, I could see her nerves,” he said. “Knowing her, that was surprising.”

As her presentation moved along, Felicia’s nerves also turned to confidence. By the end of her presentation, she spoke with authority, cracked jokes with her audience, shared recipes and then served up “a good vegetarian snack” made up of carrots, tortilla chips and hummus.

“It is a lot of fun to share all of this knowledge with a bunch of people who want to learn about it,” Felicia said. “I am a vegetarian, but as I did this project, I actually learned a lot more about it.”

Harry Philibert said he thinks the project was a neat idea and is proud of the way his daughter communicated with her audience.

“I’m obviously biased, but I was impressed,” he said.

“This activity goes above and beyond the everyday research project,” Latterell said. “I see incredible growth in their confidence—and that is my favorite part of this.

“When the students are done, they walk away feeling like they can do any presentation for any class for the rest of their life.”