Four Students Named Nelson Hume Speech Competition Winners

For decades, the Nelson Hume Speech Competition has been a proud tradition on the hilltop, offering students a chance to improve their writing and public speaking and get a little more comfortable outside their comfort zones. During School Meeting on March 6, English Department chair Chris McEnroe announced the winners in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth forms, as well as the School’s overall champion.

The competition is named for Canterbury’s first and longest-serving headmaster, who passionately believed in the power of both writing and oratory. Over several weeks, students worked one-on-one with faculty members to determine a topic of significance and prepare their remarks. After delivering their speeches in their English classes, a student from each class was selected to speak in front of the community at School Meeting. 

This year, the winners for forms Four through Six were…

• Degan O’Keefe ’28
• Francis Foley ’27
• Andres Wright ’26

… and Charles Scott ’27 was named the Canterbury-wide winner.

“The Hume Speech competition was a delightful festival of wisdom connecting our students, who carry the torch of the School, with decades of Saints who have come before them,” says Mr. McEnroe. “I was impressed with the openness and poise of our speakers.”

Degan spoke eloquently of the positive example his single mother has set for him throughout his life. Francis chose the prompt “The future as a question, not an answer,” likening overplanning one’s future to relying too heavily on a car’s GPS. Andres answered the prompt “Moving past impossible” by explaining why virtue should be at the center of all our actions, even though it’s difficult. 

Charles’ speech, which also spoke to “The future as a question, not an answer,” was deeply personal and truly moving. He told his fellow Saints that he had a lot of questions after the death of his mother, and one continues to loom large in his daily life: “Will I be OK?” Her death made him realize, he explained, that the future is not guaranteed, and we often cannot control what will happen. But, he concluded, “Uncertainty didn’t destroy me; it shaped me … Growth depends on stepping into what we can’t always see. Strength is being brave enough to live inside the question.”

Each of the four students will be honored at an award ceremony in the spring. Congratulations, Saints!