The 35th Annual Dottie Rhett Speech Contest

Every Charleston Day graduate can claim public speaking as a core competency. Public speaking instruction is woven throughout Charleston Day’s curriculum beginning in Kindergarten. Those skills were demonstrated in March as the fifth grade participated in the 35th Annual Dottie Rhett Speech Contest.

The contest was started in 1986 by language arts teacher Mrs. Dottie Rhett, who firmly believed that public speaking was a skill that every child should acquire. The contest was named in her honor after her death in 2014. We were honored to have her husband, the Rev. Dr. William Rhett Jr., in attendance again this year.

The speech contest is a favorite tradition of Charleston Day students and alumni. Students in fifth grade choose a topic of interest to them, research it and write a speech to be delivered in front of the class and in-house judges. This event follows months of preparing their speeches in class during a Writers Workshop. Students learn skills such as taking notes, forming outlines, and citing sources, following MLA style. From there, six finalists are selected to present their speeches in front of three external judges. Each fifth grader plays an important role, whether making formal introductions, acting as the Master of Ceremonies or giving a dramatic reading while the judges deliberate.

What They Researched

The topics from the six finalists included Big Wave Surfing (Merris Dukes, 1st place winner), The Boykin Spaniel (Will Bradley, 2nd place winner), The Importance of the Honeybee (Emily Manuel, 3rd place winner), Deep Sea Legends, Kobe Bryant: A Biography and The History of CocaCola.

Dramatic readings ranged from excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech and Amanda Gorman’s “Chorus of the Captains” to poems by Shel Silverstein and Presidential speeches by Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Our Judges

We would like to thank our esteemed judges including: Mr. Mark Stacy, Corporate Treasurer for William M. Bird & Company, Inc. and its parent company, Southern Diversified Distributors, Inc. as well as president of the Holy City Toastmaster’s Club; WCBD Channel 2 News Anchor Mrs. Sofia deSaussure; and CDS Alumnus Mr. Thomas Rogers (’09), Financial Advisor with the Chakeris Rogers Group of Merril Lynch in Charleston.

Speech Contest Memories

This year, the second place winner of the Dottie Rhett Speech Contest was Will Bradley. His mother, Mary Atmar Owings Bradley (’89), placed third when she was in the Speech Contest in 1986 (right). Our alumnus judge, Mr. Thomas Rogers (’09) was also the third place winner in his fifth grade Dottie Rhett Speech Contest!

1986 CDS Speech Contest

2021 Speech Contest

Rev. Dr. William Rhett Jr. stands with this year’s finalists, opener and Master of Ceremonies.