By Will Gilson, Currier Times Staff///

An overflow crowd of students, professors, and Board of Trustee members gathered in the Hafer Parents Lounge on November 13th to attend the Inaugural President’s Speech Contest. The competition, sponsored by the Communication Department, was held in celebration of the 145th anniversary of Curry College being founded as a school of Expression and Elocution.

“I’m so excited this is happening,” said President Jay Gonzalez, as he addressed the crowd about the contest, connecting back to the roots of Curry College from 1879.

The speakers were judged by a panel consisting of President Jay Gonzalez; Vice President of Student Affairs & Dean of Students, Erik Muurisepp; Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, Jeannette Buntin; and Board of Trustee member, Susan Griffin.

A rubric that consisted of different speech elements such as the audience appeal, and strength of delivery with a scale of 1-5 was used to evaluate each speaker. 

After further opening remarks by Communication Professor Jayson Baker, the audience listened to 10 speakers, divided into two speech categories with a five-minute limit on each speech: Informative, which focused on sharing knowledge with the audience, and Persuasive, which involved the speaker encouraging the audience to change their behavior on a subject.

Both categories had speakers dedicated to their topics and material.

Senior Communication major, Connor Goodreau, who presented an Informative Speech, focused on the topic of South Shore Community Needs.

“Imagine having to choose between putting food on the table or turning the heat on in your home,” Goodreau said, when referring to poverty on the South Shore.

Within the Persuasive category, Undecided major Glanzer Mar, a freshman, talked about Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience.

“Resilience is like a muscle, anyone can work it,” Mar said when sharing his tough experiences growing up.

There were cash prizes of $100 and a Curry sweatshirt for each speaker who came in first place, and a Curry T-shirt with a $50 cash prize who came in second place.

The winners for the Informative category were: First Place, Roshaine Waite with “Gen Z and Reading” and Second Place, Shaloom Bakinahe, with “Wealth Inequality in the United States.”

Waite, a junior Communication major, was proud his topic helped him earn First Place.

“I thought the topic was strong, but I didn’t know it would resonate, but I came out here, and everyone loved it,” Waite said.

Bakinahe, a first year Business Administration major, knew the importance of his topic, which helped him. 

“I was pretty confident going in cause I know my topic was meaningful due to the time that we’re in,” Bakinahe said.

Within the Persuasive category, First Place went to Glanzer Mar’s speech about “Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience” and Second Place was awarded to Zachary Berlstein with “The Need for Voting Reform.”

Mar was starstruck when it was announced he came in First Place.

“I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen,” Mar said.

Berlstein was equally overcome with emotion.

“I was physically shaking up there so it feels pretty good,” Berlstein said in response to being the runner up.

President Jay Gonzalez is hopeful that Curry hosts more competitions like this one.          

“It added something new to Curry that was consistent with what Curry has always been about,” Gonzalez said.

Below please find the full lineup of each speaker:

Informative Speeches

Connor Goodreau, “South Shore Community Needs”    

Ian Nunez, “Positive Traits in Sports Players”       

James Schoenhaler, “Influence of Modern Television”

Shaloom Bakinahe, “Wealth Inequality in the United States”

Maddy Greene, “Transfer Experience”

Roshaine Waite, “Gen Z and Reading”

Persuasive Speeches

Glanzer Mar, “Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience”

Nathan Sinclair, “Just Five Minutes”

Zachary Berlstein, “The Need for Voting Reform”

Jessica Obijuru, “Resilience”