The fourth annual Wolfpack Speaks competition brought out a wide variety of public speaking students. Every year, public speaking professors select the top people from their classes to compete in the public speaking competition. Students are evaluated by their professors during the final speech of the semester to determine who will compete.
Evan Wilkinson, a junior in wood products and second place winner, said the enjoyed the finals more than practice in class.
”I actually enjoyed the finals of this competition more than the part in class. Speaking in front of a big group of people is less personal and I found that a lot easier,” Wilkinson said.
Students are required to prepare a five to seven minute call to action speech for the competition. Wilkinson did his speech on banning spice, which is a legal drug. He chose this topic after his baseball coach showed a video about the negative effects of the drug.
“My coach showed us a video about this drug and I just found it really interesting. I thought it was a good topic for my final speech,” Wilkinson said.
The first place winner in the competition was Meagan Proper, a sophomore in sports management. Proper could not be reached for comment at press time. Proper’s speech was about alcohol being banned from major public sporting events. Both Proper and Wilkinson had Brandi Moyer for public speaking.
Kailey Miller, a sophomore in public relations, won third place in the competition. Her instructor was Stephen Larson.
“I wasn’t surprised at all when Meagan won. We were in the same public speaking class and she was great all semester, so I thought it made sense that she won. She deserved the win,” Wilkinson said.
All students who are nominated to compete in the competition compete in a qualifying round. Six students are chosen from the qualifying round to compete in the final round. Judges provide students with feedback about their speeches so that they are able to improve their technique.
“I really felt as though I really did better in the finals. My final speech was definitely better than my first speech,” Wilkinson said.
The judges for the qualifying round are made up of public speaking professors from the University. The judges for the final round are guest judges from the community. The winners of the competition are awarded cash prizes.
“Our teacher helped us out a lot during the whole process. It was a great experience,” Wilkinson said.