The StuCo Speech

BY Seojoon Kwon
My heart started to beat from walking down the stairs with my advisory
to the mini-auditorium. I was speechless. I tried to memorize my speech more
and more, but my mind was blank. I heard my friends chatting behind me. If it
was a normal day, then I would have turned around and started chatting too.
But it was not an ordinary day. It was StuCo speech day, and I was one of the
candidates and by the end of the day I would rather be successful and get into
StuCo, or fail and feel depressed. Slowly, we walked into the mini-auditorium.
Most of the other advisories were already there. As soon as we walked in,
Robin and Lexy, who were voted in by teachers last year started. They told all
the candidates to come up to the back of the stage.
The first person, Murphy did great. I wanted to watch him talk, but I
knew that I had to practice and do better then him in order to get voted in. As
the second candidate started, I knew my turn was coming up quickly. My heart
started beating faster. My hands were getting sweaty. My knees were
trembling. The second candidate finishes. Everyone is clapping. I know its my
turn.
I walk up to the stage, look at my paper once, and start speaking. The
mic isnt working. I turn the mic on, and start. Halfway through the speech, I
start thinking of walking around the stage a little bit, but I am too nervous and
cant. My paper seemed longer than ever. I was sure it was no longer than 50
seconds.

Finally, I got to my last sentence and the audience started to clap. I felt
like letting down everything. I felt like I had no more energy left in my body. I
walked backstage again with my wobbly knees, and got a deep breath. Its
done, Its over, I kept repeating to myself.

Later on, at English class, the day was almost over, I was pretty excited
for the results, and I start to think that the results will be announced in the
morning of the next day. The bell rings, and everyone goes up to the door
thinking it was the end of the day. Next, I heard John, the presidents voice.
Please, Please, I repeated in my mind. These are the StuCo members for the
2016-17 school year, my heart is beating even louder than the speech. 6th
grade: Juri Nakayama, Silence in the room, and I hold my breath. Seojoon

Kwon, and Murphy Callahan. I jumped up and high-fived Murphy. I jumped

around, and instantly I thought, I did it! I did it! Im in! For the next three days,
everything was enjoyable, and I couldnt believe I got voted in until the next
week or so.
Now that I think about it while writing a story about it, I remember that I
never expected to get voted in. Since I was new to this campus, and I knew
that I had less friends since the other candidates were at KIS Pangyo for years.
Still, I wanted to get in so much, so there was a tiny bit in my mind that I
wanted to get in. At first, I wasnt even trying to volunteer. Then I thought, If I
dont get voted in, I would still have the experience of failure, and that wasnt
bad! So I just filled out the form thinking If I get in I do, and if I dont, I dont.
These thoughts made my success even more surprising and enjoyable. Now its

two months since the event, and I still have every, detail in my mind that I
could explain all the feelings and details very precisely.
That day, I also noticed things about myself. One of them are that I feel
extreme coldness when I get nervous, and on the other hand, that feeling just
flies out of myself when I am successful even before I notice that Im not
feeling cold anymore. The other one is that I got a bit more confidence in
myself. Since now I have two years of experience in StuCo, and that I have
quite a few times of experience in giving speeches. I look forward to becoming
a part of StuCo next year too, and Im having a great experience at StuCo!