Here's a story about a time when I was way out of my depth.
Bobcat News was the little school broadcast that was aired weekly to the whole student body. Mister (Moo Moo) asked me to be an anchor that year, and since disappointing him in any way felt like being stabbed in the gut with a red-hot poker, I agreed to do it.
Problem is, I. Was. Terrified. See, I have this thing about public speaking. I dread it. I loathe it. I despise it. Nevertheless, I had committed myself to doing the job.
So there I was, this underfed, scrappy little misfit, knees knocking in my second-hand jeans. I couldn't fail- that would be too humiliating, so I just threw myself into learning how to be on camera. We would record a broadcast, watch it air, and then be critiqued afterward. Mister was always very kind in his feedback, but he was honest, and I took careful notes. After the first show, he advised me to keep still and stop fidgeting, so I did. The next show I was a motionless, blank statue. He played that broadcast for my entire class, and laughingly invited my peers to give me some advice. I realized quite quickly that I had a reputation for smiling a lot, so having a dead-pan face betrayed my nervousness more than anything else. Very embarrassing! The third time we aired was when I finally saw a significant improvement. It was amazing how simply sitting still and smiling gave the (very false!!) impression that I was confident on camera. I didn't mind the inner turmoil I was suffering each time, as long as it didn't show. Fake it didn't ever really turn to make it that year, but people were nice about my short stint as a news anchorwoman anyway.
Did you ever do anything like this in high school? Tell us about it in the comments! WBS- Jess
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