When I signed up for the Words that Matter course I was initially very hesitant. Most of my hobbies and strengths are STEM based, and I’ve never done anything with debate before. However, over the three weeks I improved my public speaking skills and persuasion, and really cherished the skills I learned.

The first week we practiced how to talk. Things like eye contact, enunciation, tone, pitch, and even hand movements.

The second week we debated. Initially, I lost many debates, but after a few days I got my first win under my belt. It was a less serious topic against the top debater in the class: why sharks are stronger than bears! That was my first sign of improvement and I got more addicted to the thrill of public speaking. Soon I moved on to winning debates about policies such as increasing the minimum wage, underage autonomous medical choices, and others.

The last week we started writing our own speeches. From black out poetry to longer persuasive speeches, we took everything we learned the past two weeks and put it together.

All in all, this course really opened my mind to public speaking and debating. That realm always seemed foreign to me, and after that class I became a lot more comfortable with rhetoric and persuasion. :)