On Friday, April 5th, SHS junior Bradley Bossey will represent Scituate High School at the Massachusetts State House as he delivers a speech to mark Government Day in Boston. Bossey, a triplet with brothers Blaise and Bronson, was selected by his classmates for this honor due to his charisma and superior speaking and writing skills. This opportunity is extended to high school juniors in Massachusetts, and at SHS, every eleventh-grade history class voted for one person to represent them.
Bossey will deliver a two-minute speech to approximately 600 people in the State House as part of a high school competition. He chose to write about schools censoring different perspectives, saying he “specifically wrote about book banning and how that has been a political issue in the past few years.” In AP Language and Composition, Bossey learned about this issue: “We read about a South Carolina teacher who almost lost her job because of a book she introduced to her students,” he explained.
Bossey wrote his speech by himself but said history department chair Samantha Lesniak and history teacher Kristen Emerson helped him understand how to “structure a two-minute speech and how to have a clear message in a short period.” When asked why she thinks Bossey was selected for this distinction, Emerson said it was because of his “deep interest in government and politics, and other kids know and respect that.” Emerson added, “Bradley works incredibly hard and is deserving of this opportunity–not just because he is naturally just skilled at writing and speaking.”
In the fall, Bossey was also selected to deliver junior Jane Ryan’s Veteran’s Day speech because she was away during the school assembly. Ryan said, “I was so happy when Bradley agreed to deliver my speech because he has incredible poise and public speaking skills.” Ryan remarked, “Bradley is very well-spoken and sophisticated.” Ryan thinks Bossey’s “wonderful speech-delivering skills in AP Lang class” will help him deliver his speech more confidently.
Blaise and Bronson are especially proud of their brother’s accomplishments, noting, “Bradley is going places.”