Local students generating mirth for Leth SD Voices

By Nicholas Allen - for the Lethbridge Herald on May 26, 2022.

The Lethbridge School District will be hosting a comedy and speaking event on June 16 featuring four different schools.
There are five high schools in the Lethbridge School District but according to Samuel Ojo, the English Language Arts Teacher at Winston Churchill High School, only four will be participating in the Leth SD Voices event.
“We decided we were going to make all five schools do it. However, one of the schools could not get a candidate in. So, we are sticking with four candidates,” said Ojo.
He said they do not have specific topics for the speakers to talk about, but they did enact guidelines for the students to follow.
“They can basically just talk about their experiences in high school, so far, as a way to encourage other younger folks coming up behind them. Or they can even talk about their aspirations and what they intend to do after high school,” said Ojo. “They can basically come with a motivational speech if that’s what they would like to do… it’s all up to them.”
According to Ojo, this is the first edition of the event, Leth SD Voices, and initially they were planning to do a TED talk.
“We realized that we couldn’t make lots of different options if we [had] to do a TED talk. We would have to adhere strictly to their guidelines, and we actually wanted to make this less academic for our students. That’s why we’re trying to bring in the comedy parts into it and the speaking parts into it,” said Ojo.
Ojo said they have reached out to sponsors for help with the event. They intend to have a photo booth for students the day of Leth SD Voices which he said they are going to have to spend money on as well.
“We intend to have some very light refreshments [and] snacks for attendees,” said Ojo. “We also intend to have gift items for speakers that will be very useful for them as they move on to post-secondary schools.”
He said they intend to continue the event going forward with hopes that students end up taking over the process of planning.
“It’s something that I think I would want students to take initiative and leading this event going on,” said Ojo. “I’m hoping and I’m trusting that we are going to keep this event; we are going to keep doing it.”
Connecting with all the schools was a major difficulty initially, according to Ojo. He said he was unable to make it to every school in the district, adding “I cannot be at all the places at the same time.” After that issue was handled, he said advertising became the next problem due to awareness of the event.
“This is a new event. Nobody knows what it’s going to look like or what it’s all about,” said Ojo.
Even with all of the challenges, Ojo said it’s good for younger students to be able to listen to the graduating students knowing that in the last two years, “it’s never been easy to be a student.” He said that even as a teacher it has not been easy through the pandemic but, according to Ojo, his students have been handling the impact of COVID well.
“I can only imagine the effect of COVID on them and how they’ve been able to weather that storm,” said Ojo, “I think for students attending, it’s just going to encourage them to keep doing the best they can. And irrespective of what is going on around them, irrespective of the problem… they’re always going to be supported by this group.”
He said the major reason they are doing Leth SD Voices is to support the students and show them that the school will continue to be there for them.
“The best investment we can make is in our students and our younger folks by investing in their future. I think this is just one of the major ways we can invest in that future,” said Ojo.
According to Ojo, most people do not like to speak up and he understands not everybody will be able to get in front of their peers for public speaking. Although it is something he said they want to see more of.
“We want them to have that confidence that there are people, there are adults in their lives who are going to listen to them… this is one reason why I think it is important we provide a platform for our students, for our younger folks, to be able to voice their concerns,” added Ojo.
The Leth SD Voices event will take place at the Chinook High School Media Centre on June 16 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and feature four speakers and four comedy routines.

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