Written by John Dewitt | Photos by Marceleen Mosher

“The level of professionalism– far too much.” – Latrice Royal

So, you want to enter a speech competition? Great! Competitive speech is a great way to improve your speaking skills (other than coming in to meet me at our Speaking Lab in Foss 171C). It offers a healthy competition for those who are looking to push their speaking skills to the next level. I would like to inform you about how these tournaments play out.

In high school, I participated in competitive forensics. Common categories include but are not limited to prose, duo, poetry, persuasive, informational, after dinner, and drama. I participated in prose and duo. However, be fair warned about the professional, competitive culture within speech tournaments. We’re not in high school anymore. The competition is high and the competitors have been training with a coach for months (Don’t worry! We have coaches at Augsburg too! You can speak with either Bob Groven or David Lapakko for more details!). If you think you can go into the tournament by yourself with no help from a coach, I salute you.

Every speech is 10 minutes long. So, it is best that you drill (aka practice) your speech as many times as you can with a timer. They will dock points if you are not fully memorized. In the real world, when you are publicly speaking, the audience wants you to do well. No one goes into a speech waiting for you to fail. However, in this competition, everyone is waiting for you to slip-up. Well, it is a competition after all. They want that trophy! The culture is to be professional. In high school, this was a looser term. Now, in college, on our way to adulting, professionalism is the game.  It is deemed as unprofessional to even talk to each other at these events. Unless it is a compliment loud enough for your judge to hear. Everyone is hyper-focused on themselves and doing well in their own speeches.

That said, competitive speech is a fun experience when you play the game for what it is. This is a competition!  I loved speech in high school because it got me out of my comfort zone. Participating in Speech in college will not only heighten your public speaking skills but, at Augsburg, it will heighten your will power to trust yourself and build professional skills. You’ve got this!!

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“Failing Infrastructures: The Hydrosocial Cycle and Water in the U.S.”

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan illuminated a startling concern across the United States of aging infrastructures and limited public investment. Residents lacked both the financial freedom to invest in their own community and a representative voice in the decisions that impact them. But Flint’s underlying problem is not unique. Our water infrastructure is at risk and buried out of sight in many modern-day, fiscally strapped communities – both literally and figuratively. This hidden landscape lies at the intersection of both the natural and built water supplies we all rely on. Grounded in the hydrosocial cycle, we seek to situate the inherent flaws in solving community water infrastructure challenges with budget forward approaches. It is critical for policymakers and community members to examine water in relation to its role in modern day society and its very stake in humanity’s survival.

“What if Joseph Campbell Could Dunk? A Rhetorical Analysis of the Narrative Constructed Around LeBron James”

LeBron James sits at the top of the American athletic hierarchy. No other star combines the same amount of talent, celebrity, and notoriety as James has since bursting onto the scene as a high school phenom in 2002 (“ESPN World Fame 100”, 2017). His life, from the blacktops of poverty-stricken Akron to NBA champion, has followed a narrative that aligns closely with Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.” LeBron James has come to represent a symbol of the struggles and redemption of the city of Cleveland, the next generation of basketball superstars following Michael Jordan, and the continuation of a rich and complicated narrative of African-American athletes and their relationship social justice. Through this rhetorical analysis of sports media coverage, Nike advertising campaigns and other mediums that combine to perpetuate the myth that is LeBron James, one can both observe how these forces combine to tell a heroic story and better understand the usefulness of Campbell’s Heroic Journey as it pertains to modern day athletes.

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