The winners of the spring 2023 Public Speaking Excellence Award.
Four students have placed in the Public Speaking Excellence Award, a semesterly public speaking competition hosted by the Communication Studies Department, for the spring 2023 semester.
The winners are:
- First place: Hailey Williams, biology junior, who spoke on Henrietta Lacks.
- Second place: Alli Glasman, ballet and psychology sophomore, who spoke on the neuropsychology behind why men and women mature at different rates.
- Third place: Emilia Gambucci, theater first year, who spoke on shark culling.
- Fourth place: Lauren Sdun, astronomy and physics junior, who spoke on the ethics of the milk industry.
The competition was organized by Communication Studies instructors Zack Frohlich and Katie Forsythe. A student from each section of COMM 10123: Communicating Effectively is nominated by their instructors and classmates to compete as their section’s representative.
“With no classes, student have a lot of things they could be doing on the Thursday before finals week. Today, we had 20 students willingly get up early to give presentations for this competition,” Frohlich said. “This is a great way to showcase what our students learn and do in COMM 10123. Because it’s a core requirement, this competition is really a cross-section of the TCU student body.”
Most students take “Communicating Effectively” at some point during their time at TCU to fulfill the university’s Oral Communication requirement. This competition allows students from all majors across campus to showcase their public speaking skills.
The first round was judged by Amorette Hinderaker, Communication Studies associate professor; Cedric James, director of student engagement at the Institute for Enterprise and Innovation; and Cristina Martinez (MS ’06), dean of academic affairs for Tarrant County College Connect Campus. The semi-finals were judged by a mix of Communication Studies faculty and graduate teaching assistants.