Kent-Davis Competition

A time-honored Suffield Academy tradition continued with the annual Kent-Davis Oratory Competition on May 16. Nine seniors delivered speeches in two categories: the Emmett Kent Public Speaking Prize and the Charles G. Davis Oratory Prize. The Emmett Kent Public Speaking Prize is awarded to a student who demonstrates excellent oratory and speech writing skills. The Charles G. Davis Oratory Prize is awarded to a student who demonstrates excellent oratory skills with a keen awareness of the subject in relation to the audience.

This year's Kent contestants were Hannah Cote (Suffield, Connecticut), Clementine Ceria (New York, New York), Josh Mingo (Copenhagen, Denmark), Grace Kotchen (Irvington, New York), and Trent Hieber (Granby, Connecticut).

This year’s Davis speakers were Campbell White (Canton, Ohio), Matt Balise (West Springfield, Massachusetts), Nailah Estrada (Chicago, Illinois), and Eli Wiener (Campbell Hall, New York). 

Kent-Davis faculty advisor Bill Sullivan said, “On behalf of Mr. Dugan and Ms. Lloyd, I want to convey our appreciation for these senior Kent-Davis speakers. During this busy spring trimester they all found the time and invested excellent effort to work on these speeches. They all deserve awards for working so hard. Collectively, this dedicated group created a dynamic body of work that we will proudly install in Suffield Academy’s archives.”

The winners will be announced at Suffield Academy’s 189th Commencement on May 27.