Former NBA player John Wallace and actress Amy Hargreaves worked with kids this weekend to help craft both their basketball and acting skills.

“In the short two-day span, they’ve already gotten more confident,” Wallace said. “They’ve learned how to introduce themselves. Which, by the way, you introduce yourself gives off even more confidence. People are going to treat you differently because of the way you approach them.”  

The SpeakWell camp was introduced back in 2019. It was as an after-school program of less than 10 middle school kids to help them develop their skills in public speaking.

“And we were able to integrate it into a basketball camp and into an acting camp with John Wallace and Amy Hargreaves who are our mentors,” SpeakWell founder Patty Kennedy said. “It’s amazing, we’ve gone from nine to 1,000.” 

“The camps are a fun way to integrate what I do as an actress with some of the main lessons of SpeakWell, leadership, listening, confidence in yourself and finding your voice,” Hargreaves said, “So many of these things from speak well and the world of acting match up and are just so much fun to explore with kids that are at a really great age.”  

“And working with the kids there’s nothing like it. Right? To really see and work with a child and see the growth and it’s fun, it’s frustrating,” Kennedy said. “It’s all of the things that it is to work with a kid, but it’s great.” 

“I thought meeting Amy was really cool because she’s done this before, like she’s been where we are,” SpeakWell camper Scarlett Georgianna said. “When she was a little kid it’s not like she was famous at one. She went through school and she led up to what she’s doing and I think it’s really cool.” 

SpeakWell has given out 101 scholarships to kids so they can attend the camp. The goal is to now grow the camp to 10,000 students.

“I would like to really aim towards underserved communities, public schools and underserved communities to help kids find their confidence, find their voice, really carve a path in the world,” Hargreaves said. “If we could help them do that then that would really mean a lot to me and Patty and John.”  

It’s more than dribbling a basketball up and down the court or siting lines from a monologue. It’s bringing kids together through leadership and communication skills.