Academic 14: Applying for Head Girl (Public Speaking Tips)

Hello my beautiful friends!

Recently, I have been going through the Head Girl selection process at my school. For reference, this process consists of

1. Being nominated for the position by a peer.
2. Making a speech at a hustings.
3. A student and teacher vote.
4. The nominees with the most votes are interviewed by the Head Teacher and she decides the final Head Boy/Girl and Deputy Head Boy/Girl.

I did my speech on Monday last week and the vote took place on Thursday and Friday. It would be an honour to be Head Girl; however, all of the candidates are wonderful girls, so I will not be disappointed if I am not appointed a position. Nevertheless, I thought it may be useful if I posted about how I overcame my fear of public speaking and what I included in my speech.

I am a very anxious person, and thus I experience anxiety when public speaking. The main advice I will give is to just do it! The morning of the hustings, I strongly considered dropping out, but I didn't drop out and I surprised myself with how well I coped. The only way to overcome the anxious mental barrier associated with public speaking is to public speak (which is easier said than done). More practical tips are as follows...

• Learn your speech! Learn your speech thoroughly to the extent that you can say it quickly without pauses or hesitations. This consolidates your speech well in your mind, so that you are confident in your speech even if you are anxious on the day.
• Present your speech to family/friends. I presented my speech to my mum and dad, which I found more nerve-racking than the real speech! This gets you used to presenting your speech to an audience.
• Do not be afraid to use cue cards. Even if you know your speech well, use cue cards during your speech to alleviate the anxiety of forgetting your speech. However, try to only occasionally briefly look at your cue cards as looking at your cue cards too much shows your anxiety to the audience.
• Take deep breaths before your speech. Taking deep breaths can be a form of meditation and calms your nerves. Equally, I recommend not talking to other people before your speech because this can increase anxiety levels - get yourself in the zone!
• Use confident body language (even if you are nervous). Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart (try to not shuffle around), smiling and taking deep breaths ensures you look and feel confident, which ensures you present your speech confidently to an audience.

Further, I think there are two key things you should include in your Head Girl speech: why you would be a good head girl and what you would do for the school. Having a good balance of these two things creates the perfect speech. For inspiration, my head girl speech is below.

“[School name] is a unique school. Students do well and the school is well-regarded across the city, but, more than that, it has a strong Christian ethos. This promotes a strong sense of community between staff, students and parents. I believe I owe my successes to the friendships I have made here, both student and staff, and the opportunities the school has given me. These opportunities include being part of the string orchestra, a renowned choir, school plays and various trips, which have shaped me into the well-rounded person I am today. It would be a privilege to represent this fantastic school, which I have attended for almost 6 years, and to be able to promote the school and celebrate its values.

“As many of you know, I am passionate about the student voice. Through the position of head girl, I hope to make the student voice more prominent. I hope to build closer student-staff relationships in every year to enable students to have bigger influence in decisions.

“With university places becoming increasingly competitive, I hope to negotiate with staff to ensure sixth formers are better-equipped for their studies. A few, but not all, issues I hope to negotiate include canteen access and in-school study periods. I know many Sixth Formers now avoid the canteen due to overcrowding with the joint lunch. To study effectively, we need to be well-fuelled, so I would like to discuss further the option of again having a Sixth Form-only canteen.

“Also, I realise that in-school study periods may hinder some students with students not having access to all of the resources they need, for example notes or textbooks they may have left at home, and the inevitable distraction of other students. I hope to discuss with staff about students only having in-school study periods if necessary for their learning, which further will increase the security of the school site as fewer people will be entering and leaving. I hope to build close relationships with all of my peers, including the new year 12s, to ensure the sixth form learning experience is comfortable for everyone.”

For guidance, why I would be a good head girl and what I would do for the school.

I hope this has been both useful and insightful. Please feel free to share your own tips in the comments and contact me with any further questions. I find out whether I have reached the interview stage tomorrow, so wish me luck! 💜