Why in the world would someone take an advanced speech class if their biggest fear was giving a speech? The answer: Mrs. Markano.

On the first day of my senior year at Arrowhead High School, I walked into speech class. I saw a 5’0” blonde hair woman greeting students with a warm smile. It’s unnatural to be as happy as she looked at school that early in the morning. But I didn’t mind. It put a smile on my face.

As I looked around, I didn’t recognize a single face. That was when I knew it was going to be a stressful and exhausting class.

The first speech Mrs. Markano assigned was a speech about ourselves. We had to bring in three objects that represented us. As other people gave their speeches, my stomach grew butterflies, my heart began to race, and my mind started to spin. Then, I heard what I dreaded: “Lauren, it’s your turn.” I started to panic. Sweating, my hands shook…what a great start to my senior year!

I walked up to the front of the room moving at the speed of a sloth. I got to front, turning to see eyes locked on me. Don’t embarrass yourself and you suck at giving speeches raced through my head. I looked at Mrs. Markano and she looked back at me with a smile. She threw up two thumbs. I knew she noticed my nervousness, but just the small gesture allowed me to start my speech. She knew exactly how to calm me down.

I opened my mouth and began speaking. My voice trembled as I held up my first two items. When I picked up my last item, a cow stuffed animal, I was beyond nervous. This caused my hands to squeeze the cow and an unexpected loud “MOOOO” emerged from the stuffed animal. A tide of red flowed over my face. I just failed my first speech. I looked up to see Mrs. Markano’s reaction expecting her to be mad, but instead I saw her rolling, laughing. I shook it off and continued hoping she wasn’t going to downgrade me. After what felt like hours, I finished my speech.

I remember her exact feedback: “You are so cute. I loved it. You were a little nervous, but I promise, we’ll fix that by the end of the semester.”

When she gave me my rubric back, I looked at the bottom: 98%. I went to talk to her after class to discuss my grade because I was shocked I got close to a perfect score. Mrs. Markano explained what happened in my speech was unpreventable and there’s ultimately one disaster bound to happen in every speech. She was like Cindy Lou after the Grinch stole Christmas. Maybe this class won’t be that bad after all.

Mrs. Markano gave a variety of speech assignments: persuasive, informative, sales, and many others. But she would let us choose the topic. At first, I hated it was general and we weren’t given a specific topic, but I realized she did that so we were passionate about every single speech. I would run my ideas past her to make sure I was on the right path and she gave positive feedback, boosting my confidence.

She cared about our takes and opinions on different topics and kept an open mind. She would never tell anyone they were wrong, but instead she looked at their point of view. Knowing she wanted to hear what I thought made it so much easier to get up in front of an audience and share my voice.

Mrs. Markano taught me how to write speeches the right way. She taught me not only that, but how to have platform movement and use gestures. She would show how professionals would use gestures and would overreact on hand movements. The whole class would laugh at her, but she didn’t care. It was her way of getting the point across and it worked. Next thing I knew, my hands were flying and it truly made my speech better. Whether a student was a visual learner, auditory learner, or hands-on learner, Mrs. Markano hit every learning style so no one was left confused or lost.

As the semester went on, I became more and more comfortable at the front of the room. At the beginning of the year, I chose to go on the last day so I could wait until the last minute. But as the semester passed, I began to choose to go on the first day (I wasn’t afraid anymore).  I was astonished that one teacher could help me face one of my biggest fears and help me to reach my goals in life. I realized then that fear is just a thought and something in my way.

One of the last speeches assigned was an inspirational speech. I knew what I was going to give mine on: taking risks. I chose this topic because I took a risk and took advanced speech class even when everyone told me I was crazy for thinking I could survive. But I’m so glad I took it because I conquered my glossophobia and I survived with the help of Mrs. Markano. I used to hate giving speeches but her big smile and positive attitude made it fun. She believed in me and helped me grow not only as a speaker but as a person and that is why she is my favorite educator.