Ministries

Education

Oratorical Club

Saint Sophia Oratorical Club

The Cathedral’s teenagers are invited to join the Saint Sophia Oratorical Club to learn about speech writing and to prepare speeches for the annual Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. Open to all teenagers from 7th – 12th grade, the group meets monthly to develop speeches, learn about what makes a powerful presentation and to critically evaluate their own opinions and the church’s stance on timely topics. The Saint Sophia team will compete against Sunday School students from across the archdiocese during three rounds of competition: our district level competition in D.C. in March, a regional level in New York or Connecticut in May and the final archdiocese level at rotating locations nationwide in June.

Why Join?

Be part of a fun, new group at Saint Sophia!  We’ll be doing research on topics for the oratorical contest and evaluating both the Orthodox position on these topics and your own feelings as to how these topics exist in today’s world of the twitterverse and facebooking.  Previous topics have included managing stress in today’s society, the role of community service in Christianity, and religious freedom in areas of intolerance.  We’ll also delve into what makes a good speech great, what are the components of arguments, and how to improve public speaking skills.

To join or learn more, please contact Amanda Lockhart at amanda.k.lockhart@gmail.com.

Oratorical Contest Topics