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Peoria Public Schools students using speech program to their advantage

Program Director Mariela Garcia-Alvarado leads her Lincoln K-8 speech students in a warm up
Isabela Nieto
Mariela Garcia-Alvarado, Peoria Public School District's Advantage Communications program director, leads her Lincoln K-8 speech students in a warm-up.

Six Peoria Public Schools students have returned from a nationwide speech competition in California, and their coaches are helping them prepare for their next contest.

Advantage Communications arrived in Peoria in 2021 with district-funded programs that provide free speech and performance education curriculum for after-school practice.

Advantage Communications founder and CEO Sal Tinajero is a Bradley University graduate. While he founded his company in Orange County, California, he always planned on expanding, specifically to Peoria.

Executive director Mariela Garcia-Alvarado moved to Peoria from California to help create this branch of speech programs. Garcia-Alvarado said she was drawn to the position because she wanted to serve a community, and Peoria reminds her of her hometown of Santa Ana, California.

Garcia-Alvarado helps create district branches for Advantage Communications, but she also takes a hands-on approach by directly helping teach students.

“One of the things that we teach the students is, there's daily processes that we have to follow, like warm-ups, then we go and do some practice with each other,” she said, “and then we do some performances with one another. But the other thing is to remind them that they have to set goals. So, we have a curriculum that helps them set goals.”

Garcia-Alvarado works with teachers at each individual school to help maintain a line of communication between the students and their parents. Teacher-coach Amber Powell, a fourth grade teacher at Lincoln K-8 in Peoria, said she has seen the impact the program has had on her students.

“A lot of our kiddos are shy. And they feel like oh, I can't do this. But in practice, it is a safe space for them to be able to actually practice and get into character. And you can see on competition day, they turn on. So the shy student comes alive with their script,” Powell said.

Powell also said community support is very important in encouraging students to continue their path in the program, and having people show up for her students helps them practice their skills.

The Peoria community is encouraged to come to local competitions, and those with speech experience or interest in speech are able to participate by volunteering to be judges.

Bradley University Class of 2021 graduate Emily Trader has found her place in Advantage Communications as a co-director of the Peoria Public School District branch of speech programs.

“Speech and performance art changes lives, it opens new worlds to all kinds of students that wouldn't have the opportunity otherwise,” Trader said, “and supporting programs like these might seem small or donating some hours of your time on a weekend might seem small, or annoying, but it makes these kinds of programs possible.”

In addition to teaching students across seven Peoria schools, Trader has visited her alma mater to ask current Bradley University students to volunteer as judges.

“I'd also like to say to Bradley students that the Hilltop community is wonderful, but you also belong to the Peoria community, so finding ways to give back while you're here as a Peorian at Bradley is just a beautiful experience and it opens your world as well into what your community offers to you,” sher said.

The next competition the Lincoln K-8 students will be Saturday, Feb. 11 at Von Steuben Middle School.

Isabela Nieto is a student reporting intern at WCBU. Isabela is also a student at Bradley University in Peoria.