CM grad gains confidence, lifelong skills through competitive speech

In the spring of 2019, a then 16-year-old Ryan Horrigan stood in front of Canton’s annual town meeting and delivered a clear, cogent, and heartfelt speech advocating for the renovation of the Bolivar town pool complex.

Ryan Horrigan

It was the performance of a seasoned, well-trained public speaker, and it resonated with the audience members who would go on to vote overwhelmingly in favor of the measure.

“I went up there and honestly I kind of just went into autopilot,” recalled Horrigan of the experience. “[My speech training] just sort of kicked in and I just went through it as confidently as I could. It was maybe five minutes later that the resolution got passed.”

While certainly not taking credit for the measure — several others, he said, worked for months on its passage — Horrigan is proud to have played at least some small part in the effort and is happy to now reap the rewards as both a member of the Canton Dolphins swim team and a lifeguard at the new facility.

What he can say for sure is that he would not have had the confidence to address the crowd on that night if it weren’t for his experience on the Catholic Memorial speech and debate team — a perennial state powerhouse in the Mass. Speech & Debate League (MSDL), particularly on the speech circuit.

During his four-year run, in fact, Horrigan’s teams combined to win three Massachusetts state speech championships, and the one year they failed to take home the title (2019), they finished second overall behind Shrewsbury. The team also won states when Horrigan was an eighth grader in 2017, giving the Knights four out of the past five speech championships.

Although only a sophomore when he got up and spoke at town meeting, Horrigan by then had started to find his groove in competitive speech, qualifying for nationals that year in Milwaukee. He also had a solid junior season and finished strong this past year with a fifth-place finish in informative speaking at states and another bid to nationals (both events were held virtually).

“I worked my way up over time,” he said. “I wasn’t a ‘star player,’ but I was probably in that next tier down. I guess ‘high-end role player’ would be the term.”

Of the 16 categories in competitive speech, Horrigan specialized in two: informative, which involves giving a 10-minute prepared speech on a topic of the participant’s choosing, and impromptu, where the speaker chooses one of three topics selected at random and then has six minutes total to prepare and deliver a speech.

Horrigan said he thoroughly enjoyed the unpredictability of impromptu speeches but also liked being able to delve into his personal interests in the informative category. Last year, for instance, he delivered a speech on the sensationalism of sharks in the media, and this year at states he spoke about the relationship between social justice and superhero stories.

In addition to the competitive aspect of speech and debate, Horrigan said the camaraderie on the team is what kept him coming back each year. “I think that’s one of the reasons why we do so well,” he said. “A lot of team members aren’t necessarily super passionate about speech; they’re super passionate about lifting their friends and teammates up.”

Horrigan said participating in speech also did wonders for his confidence. “A big key to doing well is having confidence, and when you’re building up your confidence in speech it kind of carries over to the rest of your life,” he said.

Ryan Horrigan and the CM speech team won 3 state titles in 4 years.

He saw it in how he carried himself through the college search process, and it was reflected in his ultimate choice to attend UMass Amherst, a large public university with an enrollment of nearly 30,000.

“I realized that wherever I went, I had the ability to make friends and do well,” he said. “It made the whole process a little less stressful.”

Horrigan’s time at CM was not solely focused on speech and debate, however. A competitive swimmer going back to his early years with the Dolphins, he swam varsity for the Knights for four seasons and was named a Catholic Conference All-Star as a senior. He was also actively involved in a number of community service projects, including the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, Capuchin Mobile Ministries, which supports and ministers to the homeless in greater Boston, and the St. Gerard’s CYO Outreach trip to Kentucky. At the Class of 2021 commencement, he was recognized with the Stephen R. Power Community Service Award for his leadership and service to the school and local communities.

After completing six years at CM (grades 7-12) and graduating magna cum laude in May, Horrigan is now looking forward to his next chapter as a college student at UMass. He plans to major in biology but is still exploring various career paths. “I’m not 100 percent sure where I want to go with that,” he said. “It could be anything from environmental policy to being on Shark Week to working in an aquarium to being a doctor.”

Horrigan said he has no plans to compete in speech at the college level, but he will cherish the memories and the many lessons learned from his time at CM. “After doing it for nine months a year for four years, it was a good journey but I’m happy that I’m done with it,” he said. “But those skills are going to stick with me. The ability to speak in public confidently — that’s a skill that’s going to help me for a very long time.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jul 16 2021. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.