Presenting my presentation to the judges was not only terrifying but was also a big task for me to

complete. When I first heard that students had to present in front of judges to graduate my

stomach dropped. Speaking in front of others has always been a problem of mine since I was a

child. I knew I would have to practice my speech throughout the whole year to make sure I was

prepared for my final presentation. Days before my presentation I would practice my speech

making sure my topic stood out to the judges. I would practice my speech in the shower to make

sure my voice would always at the right volume; I didn’t want to be speaking significant facts

and not get the emphasis it needed to stand out. It really helped to present my presentation in

front of my family and friends, because it got me accustomed to everyone having all their

attention on me; every little mistake I made my peers would take notes and address them to me.

It was hard for me to keep the time length around 6-8 minutes because I didn’t want to talk too

slow and bore the judges, but I also didn’t want to rush through the slideshow and not show any

emphasis to the important facts about my topic. Not only was the time a big factor in my

presentation, but it was also a big challenge to make sure my video would download and upload

to my presentation. After completing my video I had to download it into my google drive which

took hours to complete because the school has such poor wifi. After a few days of trying it

finally saved to my google drive and I imported it into my slideshow in time for my presentation.

Overall, I feel like my presentation went well. I believe the judges were really intrigued by the

facts I gave because they would nod their heads surprised by the statistics. I feel that I really got

the judges informed about the seriousness about my topic and what we could do to make it more

of a concern. I showed a connection not only by presenting my topic to them, but also by making

eye contact while I presented them with this much needed information. For next time I would

definitely like to add more volume and emphasis while I presented my topic, but overall I feel
that I have not only grown as a student but as a person as well. I would have never seen myself

talking in a room of adults all by myself. I am really proud that I pushed myself in succeeding

this goal.