Falconer FBLA?Member Wins State Speaking Competition
By Dave Emke, demke@post-journal.comArticle Photos
FALCONER - Marjorie Turney is 83 years old and lives in Belle Vernon, Pa. - about 20 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
But to hear her grandson, Aubrey Richir of Sugar Grove, describe it, she was the winner of the New York state Future Business Leaders of America Public Speaking II competition last month in Rochester.
''She should have those sitting in her house,'' Aubrey - who attends Falconer High School, where his mother, Lee Ann Russell, teaches - said, gesturing toward the trophy he won in Rochester and the plaque he won at the district competition in February. ''I truthfully owe all of it to her.''
But it is Aubrey's name on the plaque and the trophy, as he wrote and delivered the winning speech. And it is Aubrey who will be gunning for the national title June 25-28 in Anaheim, Calif. As he says, though, he couldn't have done it without the help of his ''mor-mor.''
'OF KITES AND MEN'
Faced with the challenge of writing a speech about what it means to be a future business leader - qualities like diversified experiences, human relations skills and surrounding one's self with new opportunities - Aubrey didn't want to write a standard speech. He thought back to the poetry of his grandmother, a key influence in his young life, and in particular a poem she wrote in 1966 called ''Of Kites and Men.''
''She took the idea of 'Of Mice and Men' and made it 'Of Kites and Men,' and it translates beautifully,'' Aubrey said. ''There's no way to put that into words.''
But put it into words is what Aubrey needed to do for his speech.
The poem compares the variety of kites in the sky to the variety of people in the world - some soaring to uncharted heights and some barely getting off the ground. It was a metaphor Aubrey found fit perfectly into the goals of his speech.
''The material of the kite makes it fly, and yet it's strong enough when it crashes down,'' he said. ''It's the same thing for a person - different ideas and experiences allow them to soar, and at the same time on downtimes they can still survive.''
And while Aubrey was able to pull the metaphor and use it to writing a winning speech, he says it was his grandmother's poem - which he quotes in the speech's introductory paragraph - that really got the judges' attention.
''They asked me 'is that poem published?''' he said about the judges at the state event in Rochester. ''(One of the judges) looked at me, and she said, 'One thing you need to do is get that published. She has something special.' I thought she had something special, but to hear it from someone outside the family is 10 times greater than anything.''
While Aubrey says he was nervous throughout the entire process at the state event - even saying he was on the verge of a panic attack while waiting to speak - he was surprised at the awards ceremony with not only the winning the speaking competition, but a third-place finish in the business presentation competition with his partner, Brittney Pearson.
''My heart probably stopped for a moment,'' he said about the moment when his name was announced as the first-place winner in Public Speaking II. ''Miracles can happen, I guess.''
'A REASON FOR EVERYTHING'
The first thing Aubrey did when he got off the bus back in Falconer was call his ''mor-mor'' - Swedish for ''mother's mother.''
What she told Aubrey was that his accomplishment gave her writing of the poem meaning.
''She said, 'See? There's a reason for everything,''' he said. '''I wrote that poem in 1966 knowing you would write this some day. God was there and told me to write it, so I wrote it.'''
Mrs. Russell said that her mother has been writing poems for most of her life, often putting them down on scraps of paper and tucking them in her nightstand drawer. While none of the works have been published, Mrs. Russell said she would love to see them in print - though, according to Aubrey, Mrs. Turney often ''doesn't think they're that great.''
''She is probably the most wise person we know in our lives,'' Mrs. Russell said, to which Aubrey expressed his agreement. ''She's so reflective in all her thoughts, and whatever she says is the perfect thing to say.''
Aubrey says his grandmother has helped him become interested in theater - for which he will be attending a pre-college program at Carnegie Mellon University in the summer - and in music from the 1920s. He lists Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor among his favorite artists. He says one of his favorite songs is Cantor's ''Margie,'' which happens to share a name with his grandmother.
Aubrey's mother also said his grandmother - with whom he says he speaks ''just about every day'' - has influenced him positively throughout his life.
''She's instilled a lot of confidence in Aubrey,'' she said. ''She's helped him to become a more successful person.''
Just a small portion of that success is represented by the trophy Aubrey now possesses from the New York state public-speaking competition, and he may add more next month in California.
''It's all because of her,'' Aubrey said. ''It's all played a major impact on me.''
