5 Public Speaking Opportunities for High School Students
5 Public Speaking Opportunities for High School Students
Written by
Written by
George Gatsios, Founder of Delta Institute
George Gatsios, Founder of Delta Institute
Published on
Published on
As a high school student, a public speaking opportunity can help you build confidence, structure your ideas more clearly, and get comfortable presenting in front of others. Through public speaking programs, you get the chance to work on speech writing, storytelling, live speaking, debate, podcasting, and audience engagement. These programs are a great way to add a tangible outcome to your college applications, while also building your soft skills.
To help you get started, here are 5 public speaking opportunities for high school students.
Podcast Immersion is a 12-week, one-on-one mentorship experience built around creating and launching your own podcast. Over the course of the program, you work with an experienced podcast mentor, learn storytelling, technical production, interview techniques, and audience engagement, and move through a full process from idea development to launch.
By the end of the program, you will have gained stronger speaking and storytelling skills, and a finished project that can be featured on Delta’s social channels. You also build communication, collaboration, and project management skills while working toward a tangible project to showcase.
Cost: $4,800
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: April 26
Program Dates: 12 weeks; available throughout the year
Eligibility: Open to high school students globally
Speak to Inspire is a 12-week, one-on-one mentorship program built around TEDx-style speaking. During the program, you work with public speaking coaches and TEDx-style mentors, develop a talk, practice stage presence and storytelling, and prepare to deliver your ideas more clearly and confidently.
As part of the program, you work on a TEDx-style talk, build stronger communication skills, and gain a clear idea of how to present ideas in front of an audience. The program is also a pathway to other public speaking opportunities, which makes it useful if you want a longer mentorship-based speaking experience rather than a one-day event.
Cost: $4,800
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: April 26
Program Dates: 12 weeks; available throughout the year
Eligibility: Open to high school students globally
USC’s Annenberg Youth Academy is a 3-week summer intensive for 26 high school participants from communities surrounding USC’s University Park and Health Science Campuses. As part of the program, you study media and civic engagement at a first-year college level and spend time working on writing, interviewing, debate, and media communication.
You gain strong public speaking and debate skills, better writing and critical thinking, and experience with multimedia storytelling. This is especially useful if you want to build your public speaking skills in the context of journalism, communication, and civic engagement.
Cost: No cost listed
Location: USC Annenberg, Los Angeles, CA
Application Deadline: April 19
Program Dates: 3 weeks in the summer
Eligibility: Open to high school students from communities surrounding USC’s campuses
Chicago Debate’s summer camp is a public speaking and debate opportunity for high school students. During camp, you work with instructors from around the country, build public speaking, persuasion, argumentation, writing, and research skills, and spend time in a structured speech and debate environment.
This program is a great way to build your confidence, understand how to structure better arguments, and gain experience responding to other people in real time in a debate setting. If you join the two-week Public Forum or Policy Debate tracks, you also begin working on upcoming season topics, which gives you a head start before the school year begins.
Cost: Tuition and scholarship details vary by camp option
Location: Chicago Debate / CDSI camp locations and formats vary
Application Deadline: June 29
Program Dates: Dates vary depending on the camp
Eligibility: Open to middle and high school students depending on track
Rising Voices is an oratorical program for 13 to 18 year old students. The program consists of an informational session, coaching, speech submission, and a formal speaking competition built around a specific theme.
The final outcome of the program is an original speech, public speaking practice, stronger delivery skills, and experience speaking competitively in front of judges. The format is especially useful if you want a more traditional speaking competition where your own voice and speech development are the center of the experience.
Cost: No cost listed
Location: Los Angeles area, with Zoom rehearsal support
Application Deadline: April 26
Program Dates: April - May
Eligibility: Students aged 13 - 18
As a high school student, a public speaking opportunity can help you build confidence, structure your ideas more clearly, and get comfortable presenting in front of others. Through public speaking programs, you get the chance to work on speech writing, storytelling, live speaking, debate, podcasting, and audience engagement. These programs are a great way to add a tangible outcome to your college applications, while also building your soft skills.
To help you get started, here are 5 public speaking opportunities for high school students.
Podcast Immersion is a 12-week, one-on-one mentorship experience built around creating and launching your own podcast. Over the course of the program, you work with an experienced podcast mentor, learn storytelling, technical production, interview techniques, and audience engagement, and move through a full process from idea development to launch.
By the end of the program, you will have gained stronger speaking and storytelling skills, and a finished project that can be featured on Delta’s social channels. You also build communication, collaboration, and project management skills while working toward a tangible project to showcase.
Cost: $4,800
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: April 26
Program Dates: 12 weeks; available throughout the year
Eligibility: Open to high school students globally
Speak to Inspire is a 12-week, one-on-one mentorship program built around TEDx-style speaking. During the program, you work with public speaking coaches and TEDx-style mentors, develop a talk, practice stage presence and storytelling, and prepare to deliver your ideas more clearly and confidently.
As part of the program, you work on a TEDx-style talk, build stronger communication skills, and gain a clear idea of how to present ideas in front of an audience. The program is also a pathway to other public speaking opportunities, which makes it useful if you want a longer mentorship-based speaking experience rather than a one-day event.
Cost: $4,800
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: April 26
Program Dates: 12 weeks; available throughout the year
Eligibility: Open to high school students globally
USC’s Annenberg Youth Academy is a 3-week summer intensive for 26 high school participants from communities surrounding USC’s University Park and Health Science Campuses. As part of the program, you study media and civic engagement at a first-year college level and spend time working on writing, interviewing, debate, and media communication.
You gain strong public speaking and debate skills, better writing and critical thinking, and experience with multimedia storytelling. This is especially useful if you want to build your public speaking skills in the context of journalism, communication, and civic engagement.
Cost: No cost listed
Location: USC Annenberg, Los Angeles, CA
Application Deadline: April 19
Program Dates: 3 weeks in the summer
Eligibility: Open to high school students from communities surrounding USC’s campuses
Chicago Debate’s summer camp is a public speaking and debate opportunity for high school students. During camp, you work with instructors from around the country, build public speaking, persuasion, argumentation, writing, and research skills, and spend time in a structured speech and debate environment.
This program is a great way to build your confidence, understand how to structure better arguments, and gain experience responding to other people in real time in a debate setting. If you join the two-week Public Forum or Policy Debate tracks, you also begin working on upcoming season topics, which gives you a head start before the school year begins.
Cost: Tuition and scholarship details vary by camp option
Location: Chicago Debate / CDSI camp locations and formats vary
Application Deadline: June 29
Program Dates: Dates vary depending on the camp
Eligibility: Open to middle and high school students depending on track
Rising Voices is an oratorical program for 13 to 18 year old students. The program consists of an informational session, coaching, speech submission, and a formal speaking competition built around a specific theme.
The final outcome of the program is an original speech, public speaking practice, stronger delivery skills, and experience speaking competitively in front of judges. The format is especially useful if you want a more traditional speaking competition where your own voice and speech development are the center of the experience.
Cost: No cost listed
Location: Los Angeles area, with Zoom rehearsal support
Application Deadline: April 26
Program Dates: April - May
Eligibility: Students aged 13 - 18
About the Author
George Gatsios holds a BA and MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge and is the founder of Delta Institute. He leads the organisation’s global strategy, overseeing programme design, partnerships, operations, and product innovation across education, career development, and technology. His work centers on building scalable, hands-on learning experiences that connect students with real-world industry exposure and future-ready skills. Alongside his leadership at Delta Institute, George serves as a Research Assistant in Economics at the University of Cambridge and London Business School, contributing to research at the intersection of economic theory, empirical analysis, and policy. He is an active member of the International Baccalaureate Educator Network (IBEN) and a strong advocate for lifelong learning and internationally minded education.
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