Petaluma Profile: Cara Wasden promotes the power of speech

Confident and self-assured, as she looks the audience directly in the eye, Spring Hills School public speaking coach Cara Wasden introduces the class of graduating fifth-graders.

“Here they are, the self-named Talking Vehicles.”

The second-floor room at the Hermann Sons Hall resounds with applause from the standing-room-only audience of parents, friends, family members, teachers and representatives from the Toast of Petaluma Toastmaster’s Club.

Selected by the speakers themselves, the group’s Toastmaster, Tyler Lasky, smiles broadly as he scans the room and begins his well-rehearsed opening lines.

“I will be introducing each of the prepared speeches this evening, and you …” he says, punctuating his words by pointing to the audience, “can participate by applauding after each presentation.”

First to speak is Matthew Hobson, who tells “BathTime,” a humorous family story, summarized by Hobson as being about, “When I was little, and me and a friend got real muddy playing outside.” In the story he tells, the grown-ups filled a washtub on the grass as a bath, and left the kids to get clean. “We knew people spent $130 to go to a spa and take mud baths, so we decided to save some money and dumped the potted plants into the water.”

In a speech entitled “Opportunities,” speaker Fernanda Stein shares, “My family moved to Petaluma from another country [Chile] and I didn’t speak English very well.” She describes how the idea of speaking aloud to her classmates once terrified her. “But Mrs. Wasden let me take my time, and the others were very supportive. When I finally stood up to give my speech, I forgot my first line, but, then, out of nowhere, it came back, and I finished my speech to welcoming applause.”

The public speaking techniques Wasden uses are straight from the Toastmasters manual.

“Speak about something you know well, using action words, humor, personal experiences and a conversational style,” she says. “Rehearse your opening line as the gateway to the rest of the speech. Make eye contact. Use gestures in the place of nervous mannerisms and filler words like ‘um’ and ‘ahh,’ and practice, practice, practice.”

It is obvious that her students admire and respect Mrs. Wasden, and part of the reason derives from the fact that she once feared speaking in front of others herself.

“I have Tourette’s,” she explains. “And when I was growing up in Hanford, my tics and sudden gestures made people laugh or shy-away. I began attending a school in San Luis Obispo, and was encouraged to take speaking classes at Cuesta College. Transferring to Cal Poly for my degree in Early Childhood Education, I took an acting class, and discovered the incredible high of performing before an audience and worked as a tour guide at Hearst Castle.”

Coincidentally, Wasden met her Petaluma-born husband, Mike, at Cal Poly and when the couple “moved home” after graduation, she started doing late-night tours at Alcatraz.

“I joined the Toast of Petaluma Toastmasters Club to improve my skills, and began competing in different speaking contests,” she explains. “This allowed me to continually step out of my comfort zone and do things I didn’t think I could do. The confidence one gets on stage can filter out into every aspect of one’s life.”

As the Monday night public speaking program continues, Dustin Norkus deftly employs body movements as he describes preparing some food in the speech titled, “The Snack.” Grayson Wilder barks like his dog at the beach in “Sandstorm,” while Lulu Riley takes us to a secluded rock and driftwood beach where the water shines with phosphorescence after dark in her piece “Summer Break.” Atticus Moss relives the humor of “The Sleepover,” and Tyler Lasky uses expressive facial movements - and his own high-energy personality to “sell” his speech entitled “Ouch!”

Wasden is excited about the prospect of bringing a school speech competition to Petaluma next year, with two or three or more schools participating.

“I’d love to see more children out there gaining the confidence and the skills to be engaging speakers,” she says.

(Contact Gil Mansergh at gilmanserghcomcast.net)