Matt Foster
Published: April 13, 2005
A crowd of people descended on Room 468, braving the dark and overcast weather April 6, to observe the final round of student speeches at the Student Speech Association’s district speech competition.
Both students and faculty attended the event, packing the small class room.
Fourteen speech students, one from each of the speech classes that are currently in session this term, took part in the competition. Contestants were selected by their peers to present a four to eight minute presentation, with or without visual aids.
Divided into three groups, the first round of the competition lasted an hour as three pre-selected judges observed the students speeches. Two members from each of the three groups then proceeded to the final round, where the six finalists would give their speeches one last time.
All six finalists were awarded a free sandwich from Firehouse subs, while first, second, and third place received money prizes.
First place, and the grand prize of $100, was awarded to Maria Kerrigan and her power point speech on tornadoes.
Other speeches were on a number of diverse subjects, including Key West, personal fitness, music history. There was also a presentation on the proper construction of a potato cannon by Quinton Williams, complete with a slow motion instant replay of the cannon in action.
With this much variety present in the competition, it is no easy task deciding on a winner.
“In the first round alone, there were a number of ties,” said Rodney Garrett, speech instructor and co-founder of the Student Speech Association.
“I’m glad that I didn’t have to judge in the final round. Each of the presentations had unique strengths and I’m sure the judges had a difficult time making their decisions.”
The students were graded in a variety of areas, including organization, content, delivery, and especially their eye contact and energy level. The judges themselves were pre-selected by the speech teachers prior to the event so that there would be no unbiased rulings.
“It’s because all of the speech teachers are actually rooting for our own students,” Garrett said.
The event, hosted by the Student Speech Association, was first held five years ago and is now held bi-annually, once in each semester. Now that the speech competition is over, students can now look forward to the SSA’s District Speakers Showcase that will be held April 20 in Rm. 468. Attendees can listen to both informative and persuasive speeches, oral interpretation, a special group presentation, and also have a second opportunity to hear the speech competitions winning speech by Maria Kerrigan.
Both the speech competition and the student speech association were founded by Garrett and Stacey Albaugh.
Anyone interested in joining the Student Speech Association can contact Garrett at 484-1432.