Sexual assault, alcoholism, feminism, and mental health. These were four of the 13 topics spoken about during the assembly of the freshmen speeches, concerning issues that affect the world each and every living day. 

On April 14, selected freshmen from every English class recited their speeches to the entire freshman class in the auditorium. Through voicing their opinions, these freshmen shared their perspectives to the rest of their class.

“My speech was centered on mental health and I chose it because I feel like everyone deals with it, even if we aren’t particularly vocal about our struggle,” freshman Jacklyn Vo said. “You are not alone. Your voice matters, your actions matter. It costs nothing to be kind and check up on someone.”

Each of these speeches held a vulnerable meaning, a valuable message, and an impactful delivery. The speakers aspired to spark a change through their words, by reaching the rest of their class at once, and also benefiting themselves with a lesson in the value of sharing your strong beliefs and personal opinions.

“Communication is important throughout your life no matter what you do,” vice principal John Sutera said. “You have your comfort zone and the better prepared you are for something to stand up in front of somebody and speak about a topic with the more knowledge, the easier it is to speak your mind.” 

“This teaches students they have a voice before the world tells them to ‘tone it down.’ That’s powerful,” faculty member Samuel Miranda said. “That’s democracy. That’s what kept me alive in multiple professions.”

Being able to speak your mind about a delicate subject is important and empowering, something that we all should be able to do. But it starts with a simple action.

“Start with listening,” Miranda said. “Then funding. Then showing up. Change isn’t magic—it’s repetitive action, like applying sunscreen every day even when it’s cloudy.”

“My goal was to get people thinking about what mental health truly meant to them. That mental health is something important that we should be okay with talking about,” Vo said.

With the kind of place and society that we live in today, especially as such young kids, we have to be the change that we want to see for the future generations after us. By giving out the speeches, the selected freshmen haven’t just voiced their opinions, but they’ve shifted minds and impacted the beliefs of others.