By Sherrie Eddington
Talk about an eclectic experience. In the Donald C. Sloan Speech Showcase tonight, peer-elected public speaking students will present 4-minute speeches on everything from 911 dispatching to a personal tribute to a father.
?It?s a short, quick hour of quality speaking,? said Diona Wilson, a Theater Media Arts 150 (public speaking) teacher at BYU. ?They?ll be talking straight to BYU students. The student winners are chosen by their peers, so generally speaking, no speech disappoints the students.?
In 1955, Donald C. Sloan started the showcase as a contest to perpetuate speaking activities among students, in the absence of an intercollegiate speaking program.
?We?re connecting vocally between each other,? said Brenda Butterfield, coordinator of the speech program. ?That?s something we need to work on constantly, that?s what I think Brother Sloan did not want to disappear.?
The showcase is a snapshot of the personal experience of the BYU student because students are encouraged to speak about subjects they are passionate about.
James Chrisman, one of the student winners who will be speaking at the showcase, will show students some of the positive aspects of the war in Iraq. He said he is frustrated with media undercoverage of the good things.
?They tend to focus on the death count instead of the 8.7 million textbooks,? said Chrisman, a pre-management student from Dayton, Ohio. ?I know there are a lot of things we probably did wrong, but I just want to focus on the positive for this.?
Having experienced one or two of the speeches that will be given at the showcase, students said they were excited to listen to their peers speak.
?At the beginning of the semester, with our first speeches, people were really nervous, kind of closed up and not willing to share their true feelings,? said Paul Rogers, a pre-dental student enrolled in TMA 150. ?They were saying what they thought people wanted to hear.?
However, Rogers said in their end-of-the-semester speeches, students were sometimes moved to tears as they spoke on topics they had put a lot of time into preparing.
In conjunction with the showcase, the Theater Media Arts Department began 12 years ago to present a community service award to a person who has been generous in their time, energy and service, Butterfield said. This year, the award will go to Helen Bateman, wife of the deceased LaVar Bateman, former Communications Department chairman.
The showcase will be tonight in Room 2254 of the Harmon Building, in two one-hour sessions, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and from 7:30-8:30 p.m.