10/27/2021 Meeting

Today we had a Halloween-themed meeting. Everyone was encouraged to wear their Halloween gear. Skye started the meeting by surveying members to find their favorite Halloween candy.

Our first speaker for tonight was Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn gave a speech on ways to change the world. One of the issues we must face is trash, a consistent issue that pollutes the environment. We can grab our friends and family to help us clean the trash. We also need to solve this problem from the source. Where does all this trash come from? By solving it from the core, we can prevent it from happening.

Our second speaker, Rachel, demonstrated and showed how crucial vocal variety really is. She was inspired by the workshop speaker from last week, Irene, who talked about telling stories. Rachel took one of her favorites, Lilo and Stitch, and added vocal variety. She gave each character unique voices and amusing impressions. Well done, Rachel!

William, our speaker, presented the pediatrician's journey. Becoming a pediatrician is not easy! You will need to take biology-related courses, take the MCAT, and spend a long time in medical school. The responsibilities of a pediatrician are also challenging, as they save the lives of children. There are many pros and cons of being a pediatrician. The pros can include having an altruistic job, a well-respected role, and a steady income. The cons can consist of long training years, long work hours, and high tuition. Well done to all our Speakers!

Skye led the Table Topics section for tonight's meeting. Once again, "Debunked" has come back. Is oxygen a drug and everything you consider to be the reality actually a hallucination? Do humans really need water to survive? Is the Titanic sinking just a myth? Well, these difficult theories that members had to justify.

Club VPE Kevin Lai

10/20/2021 Meeting

Our meeting started with a special message delivered by Skye. Thank you for continuing the Halloween theme and leading an open-ended discussion on our Halloween plans.

Our first and only speaker for tonight was Manya. Manya gave a speech on her journey while reading nonfiction text. Both fiction and nonfiction are important for our growth in literature and knowledge. Fiction books can provide us with emotion and important feelings that nonfiction books can't give us. Therefore, it is essential to continue reading fictional books in addition to nonfiction books. Manya had clear and steady and strong eye contact.

Today we had a special guest, Irene, teach us a lesson on telling stories. Telling a story may seem like something insignificant, but it is important and can help us give speeches. Although telling a story is different from giving a speech, they are both made of similar elements. Irene read a short and straightforward story three times. The first time was just plain with pauses, the second time she added vocal variety, and the last time with gestures, eye contact, and voices with each character. As she has demonstrated, there are many ways you can improve telling a story and keep the listeners involved. You can include giving the characters different voices or using your hands and body to demonstrate the appearance, actions, interactions of the characters. Vivid adjectives and adverbs are also essential elements added to speeches to make them more colorful, including describing the appearance, actions, interactions, or even the characters' emotions. Lastly, we practiced adapting the same short story read with our own expressions, adjectives, and special elements. Hats off to William for improving the bland story with the lessons Irene taught us. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us, Irene!

Important Announcement: If you have a Halloween-themed shirt or costume, please wear it on 10/27 for our Halloween-themed meeting.

During this meeting, we had very few uses of the Word of the Day. In future meetings, try to incorporate the Word of the Day into your speeches. If you have any words that you would like to use for Word of the Day, please get in touch with Kevin or Drew.

Andy led the Table Topics section for tonight's meeting and added a lot more quirky theories and ideas to prove. The Table Topics speakers had convincing arguments that Dinosaurs have not gone extinct and our life is just a simulation of our brain.

Club VPE Kevin Lai

10/13/2021 Meeting

Tonight's meeting began with a tip from Melissa. She started her speech by finding the motivations of the Speakers and the "why" of their speech. Melissa shared how she moved forward in her speaking journey with certain inspirations and ideas. The "why" of our speech pushes us to be better speakers. Before writing your speech next time, make sure to stop for a minute and think about the "why" of your speech.

Our first Speaker for tonight was William. William talked about a very relevant topic: Asian Hate. He presented three strong ideas and ways to prevent Asian Hate. These ideas include banding with other minorities, funding mental health, and breaking the "Asian stereotype." William encourages more Asians to pursue careers in fields like Politics, Business, etc.

Our next Speaker, Eric, addressed the issue of climate change. Did you know that if the temperature rose by just 3 degrees Celsius, then several cities would be submerged under the oceans? Cities tend to be much hotter than their surroundings because of the Urban Heat Island Effect. The cities attract a lot more heat because of the black-colored buildings. Cities have been trying to minimize carbon emissions and use fossil fuels efficiently. Reducing emissions must start with cities! Our last Speaker, Ethan, shared his love for math with everyone. He talked about a true geometric marvel: the fractal. Fractals are incredibly special because they are recursive. They repeat a simple algorithm over and over again. Fractals can be found everywhere, from your lungs to the Romanesco broccoli! No matter how close you zoom up on a fractal, it will appear the exact same. Great work to all our Speakers!

Important: Next week there will be a workshop. The meeting will be shortened to only one Speaker.

Devin continued with Debunked. With more entertaining questions, Debunked has reached another level.

Club VPE Kevin Lai