{"id":3096,"date":"2020-04-20T01:19:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T01:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/?p=3096"},"modified":"2020-04-20T17:38:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T17:38:56","slug":"finalists-deliver-speeches-in-annual-lebow-oratorical-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/2020\/04\/20\/finalists-deliver-speeches-in-annual-lebow-oratorical-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal Mahoney (V) Wins LeBow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Zoe Wang (IV)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 21, 2020, six finalists took part in the annual Lebow Oratorical Competition. The competition was created by classmates of Dr. Robert H. Lebow \u201858 in honor of his passion for public speaking. Dr. Lebow used public speaking to support the global need for healthcare reform while he traveled to developing countries to provide medical services with his wife, Gail. His legacy is celebrated to this day by members of the sophomore and junior class, who write and deliver 4 \u00bd to 6 \u00bd minute speeches for his namesake competition. 
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The preliminary round took place over two days, where 21 students competed for six spots in the final round. There were two rooms with two judges each, and the top three scores from each room advanced. The speeches, which ranged from persuasive to informative, were judged using a rubric that focused on the flow, organization, and delivery of the overall speech. This year\u2019s finalists were Noah Bergam (V), Cal Mahoney (V), Alex Kaplan (V), Ajun\u00e9 Richardson (V), Carolyn Coyne (V), and Martine Bigos (IV).
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Bigos spoke first with her speech titled \u201cSchlemiel, Schlimazel.\u201d She juxtaposed herself with the character Garry from NBC\u2019s Parks and Recreation<\/em>. Garry is known as a klutz by his co-workers and is thought of as nothing more than the little mistakes he makes. Bigos looks back on her own experiences, acknowledging that she too has her moments. Nevertheless, she stressed the importance of not being \u201cdefined by your worst mistakes.\u201d 
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The next speech was Bergam\u2019s “Big Fish in the Pingry Pond,” which he began by discussing students\u2019 lack of participation in September\u2019s Global Climate Strikes and Pingry\u2019s general taboo on politics and debate. He expressed his hope that Pingry students can embrace more timely and less universally agreeable political discussion, in the classroom, clubs, and ultimately, in the LeBow competition itself. Noah suggested that “debate isn’t about winning\u2014it’s about learning . . . disagreement is tiresome and messy, but it’s necessary.” 
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Next, Mahoney delivered their speech entitled \u201cCancelling Cancelling.\u201d They began by relaying a memory of their first minor fender-bender while on their way to school. Mahoney recognizes that \u201cmistakes are inevitable when someone is new to something, but how you respond to them is up to you.” They explain that in today\u2019s society even a small misunderstanding can lead to someone being \u201ccancelled.\u201d Closing the speech, Mahoney affirmed the idea that a person\u2019s mistakes should be treated with kindness in order to help them learn.
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Then, Kaplan described how drama became his passion in his speech \u201cThe Pursuit of Passion.\u201d It all started in fifth grade when he signed up to act in the Lower School\u2019s rendition of The Wizard of Oz<\/em>. He emphasized that the older he gets, the harder it is to weave his passion into his schedule, as a result of society\u2019s focus on \u201cnon-passions.\u201d Ultimately, Kaplan affirmed that he can have the profession he wants, while also enjoying his passion. 
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Richardson\u2019s (V) \u201cThe Color of Music,\u201d which highlights her identity as an African-American through her changing taste in music, followed. She grew up listening to artists like John Legend and Ne-Yo. Though, as her music taste started drifting from her family\u2019s roots, her friends and family started calling her \u201cwhite,\u201d which caused her to struggle with her identity. Now, she is back to listening to the music of her childhood and is proud to embrace her identity as a \u201cyoung black woman.\u201d
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The final speech was Coyne\u2019s \u201cTell Me About Yourself.\u201d In her speech, she addressed the question \u201cWho are you?\u201d She explained that most people\u2019s usual response includes quick facts about themselves instead of more revealing personal principles. Coyne emphasized the need for everyone, including herself, to be alone sometimes in order to take care of themselves and learn more about who they truly are. 
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Ultimately, Mahoney was declared the winner and Ajun\u00e9 Richardson was made the runner-up. In the end, the Lebow Oratorical Competition is a great tradition at Pingry that continues to provide students not only the opportunity to present their talents in public speaking, but to also spread a message they\u2019re passionate about. 
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By Zoe Wang (IV) On February 21, 2020, six finalists took part in the annual Lebow Oratorical Competition. The competition was created by classmates of Dr. Robert H. Lebow \u201858 in honor of his passion for public speaking. Dr. Lebow used public speaking to support the global need for healthcare reform while he traveled to developing countries to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":3097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[83,10],"class_list":["post-3096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-news","tag-lebow","tag-school-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3096"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3216,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions\/3216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}