I found you some tips for overcoming your distain for public speaking.

Leave nothing to chance. Lay out your strategies, have your material ready, line up a contingency plan (in case a joke bombs, for example), and practice what youre going to say often and out loud.

Take a deep breath before the presentation. It sounds clichd, but it is biologically effective at lowering your heart rate, and subsequently, your nervousness.

Keep it slow and steady. Pause when you need to take a breath; youll think better.

Tell stories. Stories will get your idea across much better than charts and graphs and numbers. They also have the added benefit of helping to engage your audience.

Prepare for more than time will allow. Time flies when youre up there, and you may speak quickly out of nervousness.

Understand that your audience is on your side. They want to hear what you have to say and to see you do well.

I hope they help. Good Luck :)

Also recording yourself and listening to yourself will help you pinpoint where you need to change your speech a little. I did some public speaking as well and this really helped me pin point my strengths and weaknesses.
And remember... have confidence and do your best, the audience is just people... just like you. They will always have opinions.
You may even have a peer or teacher listen to your presentation or even see if you can gain access of where you will speak so you can familiarize yourself with the place that you will do it at.
Another thing that works well... never look at them, instead, scan the tops of their heads... they will never know you werent looking at them.

Thank you for replying Samantha! Yes I've always had a tough time with this...a lot of times i do rehearse but i either forget what I'm supposed to say from nervousness or it's weird, its almost like I know what i'm supposed to say but I don't and just stammer something else. I've also listed and recorded myself and I'm really monotone and I mean really bad. I heard people say I was and I think that really shot down my confidence and then when I heard it it only more so confirmed it. I had to take speech as a kid so I don't know if I just talk weird or what but I guess I don't even know not to sound monotone. I always thought I was talking normal and then like I said, I've practed and recorded myself before and when I think i'm not being monotone, I really am. Do u have any advice/tips in regards to that? Thank you for the reply!

I don't have advice about the monotone quality of your voice (maybe the problem is worse than you think it is?) - but I remembered a couple of things that helped me when I was in college, as I had a really deep fear of doing a presentation.

One thing I discovered is that if I chose a topic (if possible - I know the topic is often chosen for you) - that I was very interested or even passionately interested in, it was much easier to do the presentation, because my enthusiasm for the topic would help me overcome the nervousness.

The second thing is that, after I prepared my material for the talk, I would not allow myself to think or imagine what the experience would be like, because this would bring up incredible fear and anxiety. I would immediately clear my mind of any fearful or anxious thoughts right up until the time of the presentation, and then I would be able to go into it in a much more peaceful and centered frame of mind. I realized that I "set myself up" by worrying constantly about what it was going to be like, would I do OK, etc., and this made me a wreck by the time I actually did the presentation, and it affected my "performance".

Excitement.... put feelings into it.
I'm from Georgia, I once did a presentation on America's first Gold Rush (NOT CALIFORNIA!) since I am from that little town. I had everything I needed... gold pans, gold, an outfit with gold, awesome posters... I didn't have the excitement.
I was still shy and very monotone. They said you have to believe in your presentation. Now let me say, I would present it in front of people I had never met, at a place I had never been.... bad to be a shy person. They said believe in it. Use enthusiasm. Alrighty then. In my country little hick town voice I started off with "There's STILL gold in them thar hills!" This lowered my anxiety and nervousness, the rest came smooth and I didn't even need to use my index cards! I didn't take 1st place but I did take 3rd! After that, I always chose presentations during projects and became creative.
My next presentation was Fire Safety. I was prepared... it was over the top and the best one there... so said the audience. My daddy was a fire fighter so I had brochures, fire equipment, etc. I took 2nd because I didn't heed what I preached... we didnt practice our fire safety escape plan monthly.
So use enthusiasm. You could probably practice this by reading a kids book and changing your voice with the characters. If you don't use enthusiasm, it sounds like you are simply reading a book out loud and bores the audience quick. Got a young kid around? Practice this by reading to them... when you keep their attention and have them talking about it and interacting with you while you are reading then you have it nailed.