After winning a state championship in original comedy last year at the Illinois state speech and individual events championships, Zeyne Guzeldereli decided he wanted to tackle a different event in his senior year. So this year the RB senior decided to focus mostly on an event called special occasion speaking.
The result: another state title.
On Feb. 20 at the state speech finals held at the Peoria Civic Center, Guzeldereli won the state championship in special occasion speaking by giving an eight-minute speech on chivalry to a make-believe audience Boy Scouts.
Guzeldereli, an experienced and polished performer, was thrilled to come home with another state title.
“It’s great,” Guzeldereli said. “I’m getting a lot of recognition at school and among my friends. It’s an experience I’ll never forget and it’s hard to describe.”
Guzeldereli also took on a second new event and finished fourth in the state in humorous interpretation. In addition, RB senior Ariana Barreto took fourth in the state in prose reading as RB finished tied with Benton High School for eighth place in the team standings with 12 points.
Oak Lawn and Thornwood tied for the team championship with 24 points. RB’s eighth-place finish is believed to be the best finish ever for an RB speech team.
Guzeldereli picked his topic and wrote his speech himself.
“I had to write the script myself,” Guzeldereli said. “I felt that I had the ability to do that. I took it on as a new challenge. I just thought of it as something fun to do.”
Guzeldereli spoke about the need the chivalry and how the concept of chivalry has changed from its origins in the middle ages.
“The definition is no longer men treating women with respect; it’s people treating each other with respect,” Guzeldereli said. “I just sort of feel that there’s a lack of it in today’s society.”
In his speech Guzeldereli was judged on how effectively he drove his point home in a persuasive speech infused with humor.
While Guzeldereli has performed since childhood, Barreto is a more recent covert to speech and performance activities.
The Riverside resident grew up in Berwyn and moved to Riverside at the beginning of her freshman year. She entered RB without knowing anyone and it was a bit of a culture shock for her. She was a basketball player until she went to a required assembly during her sophomore year and saw Guzeldereli perform an acting duet. That was all it took to get her hooked on speech.
“I was flabbergasted,” Barreto recalled. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Last year Barreto finished sixth in the state in poetry reading. This year she qualified for state in poetry reading, but did not make the final round. But she concentrated on prose reading and was thrilled to finish fourth in the state in that event.
She performed an eight-minute reading based on a short story form the book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. She read from the perspective of a Native American girl experiencing the educational system.
She was given the book by the co-head coach of RB’s speech team, English teacher Kathleen Harsy. The book resonated with Barreto, who felt like an outsider when she came to RB.
“I just fell in love with it, because I had that connection to the book,” Barreto said.
Next year Barreto plans on attending either Bradley University or Indiana University and plans to study broadcast journalism. She hopes to become a television sports reporter or anchor.
“Without speech I don’t know what I’d be doing,” Barreto said. “Speech kind of built that home for me at RB.”
Guzeldereli plans to study mass communications at Ball State University, where he has received a scholarship.
“They have a wonderful communications program,” Guzeldereli said. “David Letterman donated a lot of money to build a brand new communications center.”
As for his future: “If I could ever get a job in entertaining or working in Second City or Saturday Night Live, that’s always been a dream of mine,” Guzeldereli said.