The Speakers Gym is an awesome program, lead by Noel Murphy, that was offered to me at Alisal High School. This program gave me an experience that will help me throughout my life. I gained a lot of confidence, the kind of confidence that will lead me through good times and help me with the career of my dreams. In addition, I presented my values in life and spoke about where I stand and what is important to me and why. One of the biggest values was learning by listening to what my friends had to say and their values. The experience was awesome.

The Speaker's Gym also included a Mentor Program with a series of presentations put together by the mentors and students together. These presentations were given to us to express ourselves and talk about who we are as people at our very core. We had various presentations were we would speak about who our heroes are. We also had one that really helped me emotionally and personally where we gave a speech on what we would do to change the world. That's when I gained the confidence to talk to my friends about an experience I had in my life that I recover from the more I talk to family and friends about it. The one thing I said I would change in the world was child rape, now that I have the courage and confidence- I know that later in life I will make a change and reduce and eliminate child rape. Their were also exciting presentations, one about hobbies, the other presentations were exciting and I got to know my friends a lot more and what they like to do to unwind their stress.

The Mentor meetings were held in the school cafeteria, every other week for two hours. We had our space and our seating routine. the seats were arranged in a way were we would all focus on the person who was talking or presenting. Every time the meetings were held, we would have a short speech given to us by Noel Murphy the director of The Speaker's Gym, then we would sit with our mentors and talk about the presentation we were going to present to the people present. The mentors would give us tips on how to make our presentation better and more exciting.

The best part of The Speaker's Gym is that I will always carry the memory with me. I will never forget all the good times and the embarrassing times as well. Every presentation and expression that I shared with my friends is now a memory for me. I still remember the first time I presented myself in front of the mentors and my friends, that day it was embarrassing it took me a while to stand up and say my name and the career of my dreams. That day I got so red like a tomato I still remember. The part I am proud of is that I did get up and and give my speech. After that day I didn't feel embarrassed, the one thing I would always say to myself before going up on stage would be "if I did it once I will do it again". I would never trade my experience in the Speaker's Gym for anything!

The reason I would continue to attend The Speaker's Gym is because I would always have a great time expressing my feelings and listening to what my friends had to say. It was also something new I was willing to try and experience. I really appreciate all the time and dedication the mentors would give us. There is also Mrs.Johnson, my teacher who I will always thank for the wonderful experience she brought to us, she knew this was going to be very valuable not only for us but for our future and our careers. In addition I would also like to thank Noel, he really gave us wonderful feed back through our presentation and all the advice he would give us was indeed helpful. Thanks to this Program, I connected with my friends and know them a lot better, as well as knowing where I stand and who I stand for.

Dawn, age 17