When students sit down in the auditorium for senior speeches on Thursday X-Period, they’ll notice some big differences that don’t just include the timing in the schedule.

Administration implemented a variety of changes to speeches with some input from Upper School Council.
The most visible are that speeches are in the afternoon instead of the morning, and the time slot (and each individual speech) is slightly shorter. USC quotes and fun facts for each speaker have been cut—and all speaker introductions are at the beginning of the assembly instead between each speech. Intros are limited to 30 seconds each.

USC co-president Henry Choi noted that due to this year’s new school schedule, which shortened X-period (the time slot during which senior speeches take place), either intros or USC-presented quotes and fun facts needed to be cut. “Given
the choice between the chosen superlatives and quotes, [USC] chose [to keep] intros. We feel like it’s a lot more personal, and people get a lot more enjoyment out of those,” Choi said.

A behind-the-scenes change was also implemented: instead of being assigned a specific speaking date, senior speakers are assigned a cohort. This group is made up of eight seniors who will present their speeches in a two-week span; four will go one week and four another. The cohort decides which members deliver speeches each week and in what order. The goal of the cohort is to make the senior speech process less isolating, since the process takes place outside of any designated class.
Ideally, cohorts will help speakers workshop their ideas while writing and give them an opportunity to share their speeches with classmates before their speech date.

Senior speech advisor Andrew Inchiosa noted that the cohort system was not created due to any new schedule changes, but because of its potential positive impact on the speech experience. “Cohorts, in a way, [are] a way to create a little more structure, where… there’s several moments of connection with people who are going to give their speeches around the same time as you are,” Inchiosa said.

However, as a first week speaker, senior Anja Seifert felt fairly disconnected from her cohort.
Since she switched into the cohort for the first week of speeches from a group scheduled for later, she missed the initial scheduling meeting, and after that, there weren’t any other formal meet-ups.

In the days leading up to her speech, Seifert had not talked to the other cohort members.
“I like talking to people about my speech; I like getting their opinions, but I did that with my friends. I forgot about [the cohort system],” Seifert said. “I feel like it’s invasive to go to my cohort,” she added, “because they’re also under pressure writing their own speeches.”

Senior speeches for the class of 2024 began Sept. 21. Future speech dates for the first semester can be found on the X-period schedule document in the US Students Google Classroom. For attendees outside the campus, upcoming speakers are posted in the Friday newsletter sent to families.