By Noah Bergam ’21
On Friday, February 23rd, Upper and Middle School students joined together in Hauser Auditorium for the 2018 Robert H. LeBow ‘58 Oratorical Competition. The competition, held annually and open to juniors and sophomores, was founded in 2005 by William Hetfield ‘58 and the Class of ‘58 in memory of Dr. Robert H. LeBow. Dr. LeBow, a renowned public speaker, traveled through developing countries with his wife, providing medical services to underprivileged communities.
Organized by Spanish and French teacher Mr. Richard Karrat, the assembly featured four-and-a-half- to six-and-a-half-minute-long speeches from six juniors who had qualified in the initial round.
The contest opened with a speech entitled “The Pingry Story” by last year’s runner-up Avery Didden (V). Didden celebrated the Pingry community for its members’ unique passion for learning. She illustrated this point with the trivia game show HQ, noting that, while people she knew from other schools slowly forgot about the game, Pingry students continue to play. Pingry students understand, she explained, that the game is about more than just its prize money, and they embrace the spirit of trivia and learning the game promotes.
The next speech was “Thank You” by Jonathan Chen (V). Chen began the speech by reminiscing about the childhood days when his father and mother cheered him on at soccer games and swim meets. He then transitioned into the memory of his parents’ divorce and the devastation of seeing his parents split, as he regarded them as the “best team.” Despite the feelings that came with the divorce, Chen recognized the “endless love and support” his parents continue to provide him; his final message was to “thank your parents” for all the hard work that they do.
Rashida Mohammed’s (V) “A Trust Fall” followed. Mohammed opened the speech with an anecdote about a friend confessing to her about having an anxiety disorder. Later on, Mohammed confessed, “That friend I mentioned—that was me.” She offered inspiring words as she spoke about living with the disorder. Near her conclusion, she recognized that “having any form of anxiety is on a spectrum” and highlighted the importance of representation.
Then, in traditional Chinese dress, Alisa Chokshi (V) opened her speech, “Let Your Spark Ignite,” by singing “Chengdu” by Zhao Lei. Chokshi shared her life-changing experience as a member of a Chinese language immersion program, through which she resided for six weeks last summer in the city of Chengdu. As an American, Chokshi spoke about recognizing her inner ethnocentrism, the “viewing [of other cultures] with the bias of one’s own culture,” and how her perspective changed while living in China.
The penultimate speech was “Breaking Brand: Looking Past Brands for the Better” by Miroslav Bergam (V). Bergam opened the speech with a story about how his family overlooked a cookout in South Carolina summer after summer due to its lack of branding. Bergam deconstructed the illusion of branding all around our lives and community, from cereal to computers to clubs at Pingry. He went on to highlight the “dark side” of branding: the exclusion and subsequent elitism between those who are “in on the brand” and those who are not. His final message was to be wary of the impact brands have on our lives and personalities.
The final speech was “How Media Makes Us Smarter” by Ketaki Tavan (V). Tavan questioned the ways that television, movies, and other forms of visual media are seen by our culture. She challenged the assumptions that “TV rots your brain” and “hampers creativity” by arguing that one can “consume visual media” with as much critical analysis as one can with literature. Tavan continued by analyzing Mudbound, a 2017 movie involving race relations on a farm in the Mississippi Delta, and Shameless, an ongoing television comedy about a dysfunctional family living in South Side, Chicago.
As the assembly drew to a close, Mr. Karrat named Mohammed the runner-up of this year’s competition and then announced Bergam as the winner. Everyone in Hauser walked away enriched and though-provoked by the six fantastic speeches they had heard.