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Gabriel Ferrante was a competitor for the Iona Preparatory School in New York. He was last year’s Catholic National Champion. In addition, he was an extemp finalist at Yale, Bronx, Villiger, and a champion at the Columbia invitational. He was a competitor at the Montgomery Bell Academy Round Robin and New York Sate Champion in 2013. He will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, studying Chemistry and Philosophy. Gabriel agreed to sit down with Extemp Central for a two part interview to share his thoughts on extemporaneous speaking, reflect on his career, and provide advice to future extemporaneous speakers. The first part of the interview can be found here.
If you could change one thing about extemporaneous speaking, what would it be?
Probably the aura that surrounds it, far too many people in the forensics world will jump into every other speech category, but would never dream of trying extemp, and I think that does both them and the category as a whole a disservice.
What is a common mistake that you see novice extempers make?
A big problem for my novices has been that they latch on to a few pieces of knowledge and then try to fit them into a variety of speeches in which they do not belong, which leads to their missing the question entirely. (That said, I adore all the other kids on my extemp team, they’re the most awesome set of folks I’ve ever had the privilege of being around).
What was your thought process going into the CFL National Tournament? How did you weigh your chances against the field and how did you maintain your performance level through eight rounds in two days?
In truth, my biggest hope going into the tournament was simply to have a chance redeem myself from the previous year’s final, in which I didn’t perform nearly up to my potential. The only reason I was able to keep myself going was because, right before the tournament started, I promised myself that I was going to have fun with all the speeches I gave, and let the ranks fall where they may. This was one of the reasons I didn’t tense up the way I had a big tournaments before, and it was certainly a more enjoyable way to approach the big dance.
What was your biggest career disappointment?
Certainly not getting over stage fright earlier than I did, it led to far too many finals appearances that left me angry at myself for wasting an opportunity to give a good performance that entertained and informed the audience rather than simply being happy that I had the chance to compete.
Any final advice you wish to give the extemp community/last thoughts?
Remember that we all started doing extemp because we thought it was fun. When you start trying to win big tournaments or compete on the national circuit, it gets very easy to forget that. The bigger the tournament, the more of a chance it gives you to show your stuff, and challenge yourself. If you keep the focus on that, rather than just on winning, it becomes not only less stressful, but easier to reach the goals you set for your career. Also, I’d like to throw in a thank you to all my coaches, who were spectacular and amazing and the reason I was able to achieve what I did in my career.