Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Analyze persuasive messages, strengthen your delivery, and present a ten-minute capstone speech in this 3-week program for middle school students at UCLA.
Course Description
Every speech asks an audience to think, feel, do, or remember something. Students learn how informative, persuasive, entertaining, and ceremonial speeches serve those different purposes. They analyze hooks, evidence, stories, tone, pacing, body language, and visuals to see how a speaker earns attention and credibility.
Short, low-stakes speaking activities build toward more sustained work. Students tell an impromptu two-minute story, examine professional speeches and advertisements, organize ideas in an outline, and practice vocal delivery and audience awareness. Workshops, structured discussions, and peer critique help them revise both the message and the way they present it.
For the capstone, each student develops and delivers a ten-minute speech about a topic they care about. The format may be a demonstration, dramatic reading, persuasive or special-occasion speech, debate, or congressional-style argument. Students research, submit a written outline, rehearse, revise from feedback, and make purposeful choices about how they want the audience to respond.
This three-week course is part of Summer Discovery’s Institute for the Gifted program on UCLA’s campus. The course is available to residential and commuter students. Beyond class, students connect active academic exploration with campus life, growing independence, new friendships, and a clearer sense of what students may want to explore next.
What Will You Do?
• Compare informative, persuasive, entertaining, and ceremonial speeches
• Analyze hooks, evidence, stories, tone, pacing, body language, and visuals
• Practice impromptu speaking and audience-focused delivery
• Organize research and ideas in a written speech outline
• Give and apply specific peer feedback during workshops
• Rehearse and deliver a ten-minute capstone speech
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Analyze how rhetorical choices shape a message and audience response
• Organize and revise a speech using research, an outline, and feedback
• Deliver a sustained presentation with purposeful language and vocal delivery
Students leave with a completed speech outline, a ten-minute capstone presentation, rehearsal feedback, and a clearer sense of which forms of communication they may want to explore next.
Why Public Speaking Skills Matter
Public speaking develops the ability to turn an idea into a message another person can follow and remember. Rhetorical analysis helps students notice how language, evidence, stories, tone, and visuals shape credibility. Delivery practice shows how pacing, posture, and vocal variation can either reinforce or distract from meaning.
Rehearsal builds confidence through preparation, not performance tricks. Giving and receiving specific feedback strengthens listening, empathy, and revision. These habits support classroom presentations, leadership, debate, interviews, advocacy, and any setting where students need to explain an idea clearly.
Who Should Attend?
This course is for middle school students who have completed 6th, 7th, or 8th grade and want to become clearer, more confident speakers. It fits students interested in debate, performance, leadership, storytelling, advocacy, or feeling more prepared for class presentations.
Students should be ready to participate in low-stakes exercises, analyze speeches and media, offer respectful feedback, revise an outline, and present to the group. Curiosity, patience, and a willingness to practice matter more than arriving with polished delivery. Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply, and families must submit a completed program application.
Why UCLA?
UCLA gives middle-school students an energetic place to learn, have fun, and experience campus life in Los Angeles. The setting brings together science, technology, creativity, entertainment, and culture, helping new subjects feel connected to a wider world of ideas.
The program combines hands-on academics with friendships, campus activities, clear routines, and support as students become comfortable in a large university environment. Students can try new challenges, share interests with peers, and build confidence through participation without needing to decide where those interests will lead. For families, UCLA offers a structured middle-school experience that balances substantive learning with fun, community, and age-appropriate independence. Students leave with new memories and a clearer sense of what they may want to explore next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification of completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive