Oratorical is a tradition unique to Glendale High School, and the first ever event was held on April 28th, 1910. The 116th Oratorical was held at the Glendale Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 7th, 2025. This class competition includes winners in four categories: Speech, Visual and Performing Arts, Spirit, and Discipline. 

This year the grade levels actually presented in order, with seniors going first and freshmen going last, which is something that hasn’t occurred in years.

The Class of 2027 won the speech portion of the competition. Congratulations to sophomore Jack Kellum, who recited the winning speech, and special recognition goes out to the members of the speech committee, Sophomore Class President Breanna Lee and Stella Khachatorian. The other speakers who competed in Oratorical this year were senior Hasmik Tumasyan, junior Arev Avedian and freshman Kaya-Rose Hoffer.

Overall, Jack Kellum was excited about his Oratorical experience. Practicing was difficult for him, as he had trouble memorizing the speech because there was a lot of information. Prior to this, he had only memorized poems, which were at most fifty lines and only took three minutes to recite. 

The speech he had to recite for Oratorical was five minutes in length, with a lot of rhetoric involved. He had a wake-up call on the Tuesday before the competition when he realized he couldn’t recite it. He practiced that night and the next, for over three hours. He did well on Thursday, and obviously, it went very well for him on the day of the competition. 

Jack doesn’t normally get nervous on stage, but on that Thursday his legs were shaking very badly. Even with the shaky legs, he still went on, and realized, “I did this.” 

The Class of 2025 won the Discipline category, and the members of the senior class in the audience kept their composition and stayed still throughout the competition. The Class of 2025 also won the Spirit category, and they were led by GHS head cheer captain, Adri Fenyes, and Clark Magnet High School cheerleader, Talia Arotionians. The junior cheerleaders were Sofia Orellana and Valentina Hemaidan, the sophomore cheerleaders were Madelyn Cruz and Jackie Robles, and the freshman cheerleaders were Miarose Flores, Katherine Altamira, Emily Delery and Mariyah Perez.

Finally, the Class of 2026 won the Visual and Performing Arts category, and their tableau and dancer performance were rated best in the competition. The winning junior dancer was Shaylee Thomas, and the participants in their tableau were Sophia Tshabourian, Angelina Mourtada, Rachel Francis, Dahlia Vignol, Grace Kaloussian, Elayna Ovasapyan, Anette Rodriguez, Polina Svigach, Erica Hovanesian, Sofi Pugrdjian, Sofia Ramirez Arvizu and Anthony Alfaro. The other competing dancers were senior Anthony Navarez, sophomore Yamilet Bautista and freshman Yeva Havrysh.

Thank you and congratulations again to all who participated in this year’s Oratorical, including the ushers, the speech committee members, class advisors, audience members, tableau performers, cheerleaders, class presidents, judges, coaches, advisors, and dancers. This event would not be possible without all of you.