CPR for Luke

 Foundation. Something that is important in growth.. Before Luke dove into his speech about the lessons that he has learned from his friend and through his friend’s death, he first created a foundation. Establishing himself at the podium Luke created the foundation of reflection. He provided a brief introduction to let the audience know that this speech was a tribute and not a eulogy, a reflection over the last 4 years and the immense growth that he has gone through after the loss of a friend at a young age.

A friend.

An accident.

A loss.

A lesson.

A tribute.

Although some may think that Luke was speaking too softly, in the setting of a reflection speech I believed his volume to be perfect for the situation at hand. He was reserved and composed while reflecting on a difficult journey. Emotional recovery and introspection is something that no one ever likes to discuss. Death is something that is really hard to talk about and I believe Luke did a really good job at being able to shed light on the situation and truly describe the type of person Matt was while acknowledging that he did not want to belittle his life by burying his contributions in clichés which help provided vivid imagery that Matt truly was who Luke said he was. A man who held values that very few his age did.

Moments of distraction were the few times that Luke used vocal pauses (ums and like) These instances could have been strengthened by a silent pause for a small dramatic effect to help let the audience take in the information.

Alexander encourages and advocated for a poetic and artistic response to evaluate student performances because I think it calls the peer who is critique and reflecting to think of the speech in a different way other than the notes on the paper. It helps provide a different example and summary of the presentation.