Encouraging an innate comfort and affinity for public speaking during childhood puts students in a position to become natural leaders and confident decision-makers as adults.
At Peck, opportunities to practice and strengthen this critical life skill are woven throughout the full K-8 experience. Kindergarten students learn to present themselves confidently during musical, language, and literary performances. Every other week, students in grades 1-4 share their written works during Lower School assembly. And in the Upper School, students are encouraged to share their voices both in and out of the classroom.
In sixth grade, students take a public speaking course to learn the particulars of rhetoric, debate, and presentation. In their culminating year at Peck, eighth graders participate in the timeless tradition of the
eighth-grade speech—wherein each student prepares a thoughtful 5-7 minute narrative speech about something meaningful in their lives. The speeches are delivered during Upper School assemblies, or during all-school assemblies.