Students learn about communication by speaking about their passion

CNJ staff photo: Benna Sayyed

Clovis High School sophomore Alexis Longoria speaks to his speech classmates Monday about his ministry work in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Longoria said he hoped his speech will inspire his classmates to have strong faith and hope.

Alexis Longoria spoke Monday about ministering to children in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The Clovis High School sophomore said he, his mother and sister have made trips to Juarez about 20 times in the past two years. During the trips his family delivers clothes from local ministries in Clovis.

"A lot of things happen," Longoria said. "There is healing, deliverance and salvation. This is my main purpose for going there."

Longoria delivered his speech Monday as part of Keith Ingram's speech class project designed to help students sharpen their communication skills by speaking about their passion.

Students must deliver a speech about an extracurricular activity that doesn't involve drugs and alcohol.

"I had to talk about Juarez because of the hope I saw over there and the faith they maintained despite what they were going through," Longoria said. "That was really a fundament for my faith."

Longoria said on his first trip to Ciudad Juarez, a church pastor gave him and his family an opportunity to minister immediately. He now ministers at the church and helps serve food to children in need.

He said his trips to Mexico with his mother Blanca and sister Sara are worth the risk in a city that has become a center of drug cartel and gang violence in recent years. There were more than 5,000 homicides in Juarez in 2010 and 2011.

Longoria said he hoped his speech will inspire his classmates to not let their faith and hope be influenced by their surroundings.

Longoria is not the only student in Ingram's class who is not worried about the danger involved in pursuing their passion.

Clovis High sophomore Jacqueline Zubiate delivered a speech about her ambitions to become an alligator wrestler.

Zubiate said she wants to pursue a cosmetology career after high school and wrestle alligators in her spare time. She said learning to wrestle alligators in Florida will keep her busy on a positive track and avoid activities such as drinking alcohol and using drugs.

Zubiate hopes her future tussles with alligators could inspire young people to try something out of the ordinary for fun instead of indulging in alcohol and drugs.

Zubiate said she became inspired to learn to alligator wrestle while watching the TV show "Gator Boys" almost everyday for the past year.

"When I start to wrestle my first alligator I might be a little nervous," said Zubiate, "but once I get my hands on him (an alligator) I don't think I'll be that nervous."

Ingram said getting students to talk about something they would like to do is the easy part.

Ingram said after taking his class for a month students gain confidence to speak about many different topics.

"Each one of these projects is just a little step at eliminating fear of talking to people whether it's a speech, a job interview or a sales presentation," said Ingram, who grades on speaking ability only.

"I tell students, 'if you can't communicate you're going to have a difficult time in life.'"