Teen finds passion for speech after advice to branch out
by Janice Gilmore
Published in The Omahs World Herald 9/2/08

As I watched the Olympics, I couldn’t help but marvel at the passion the athletes had for their sports. Many practiced up to 10 hours a day to reach the perfec­tion needed to participate.

It’s a true blessing to have a God-given gift you feel passion­ate about. Geraldine Tyrance, an accomplished pianist, told me she practiced many hours a day when she was a child. Her parents didn’t force her — she just loved to play.

So when I observed 14-year-old Briar Watson, a 10th-grader at Mercy High School, perform a poetry read­ing, her skill and passion im­pressed me. She seemed to fully embrace the poem’s meaning, and I could feel her excitement for what she was doing.
Briar, the daughter of Lindsey and Kina Deberry, also has other passions. She loves to swim and play soccer. But her mother encouraged her to branch out.

“It’s wonderful to have an interest in sports, but I want you to
also to pursue something aca­demic,” mom told her.

In speech class, Briar discovered that being on the speech team was appealing.
Mercy teacher and speech coach Kristi Vavrina said the school’s competitive speech team offers many opportunities.

“The girls on the speech team go to different speech tourna­ments and give presentations that compete with other schools,” she said. “Each tournament has nine different state-sponsored events in which to compete.”

Some of the events are poetry, informative speech, persuasive speech, entertainment and duet acting. The students pick an event or two and perform the same speech at all competitions.

It’s an extracurricular activity for the 45 students on the team, Vavrina said.
“The students have to be very dedicated. Not only do they prac­tice after school on their speeches, but they also have to practice at home,” she said.

Parents are supportive and ac­commodating, she said. They drive the girls to the events and cheer them on. Tournaments are on Friday after school and all day Saturday.

Briar loves the team.

“I like competing, acting and developing new characters. It takes about three weeks to mem­orize a poem, and then you can develop your own style,” she said. “My coach, Ms. Vavrina, is wonderful. She allows me to work with her past my practice time to help me focus on style, enunciation and timing. She has really helped me to develop poise.”

Briar’s mom agrees.

“She’s just great,” she said of Vavrina.

Although Briar joined the team just last year, Vavrina says she has talent and has come a long way.

Vavrina was on the speech team in high school in Clarkson, Neb. She’s in her third year as a teacher, so that wasn’t so long ago.

“I loved being on the speech team,” Vavrina said. “It gave stu­dents the opportunity to develop self-esteem, confidence and poise. After my experience in high school, I was really excited to work with a speech team here.”

Briar has big plans past the ribbons and medals she has al­ready. She is striving to compete in national events.

No one smiles brighter when Briar is performing than her grandmother, Gwen Watson.
Gwen has been blessed to see her cherished granddaughter perform with poise and enthusi­asm. It warms her heart to see a young African-American lady expressing herself boldly in a world that was so different for her years ago.