At Hyde Park's famous Speaker's Corner in London, citizens come together to discuss social issues they are passionate about. A similar tradition exists at 江南体育 State: The Hyde Park Forum is a long-standing public speaking competition, featuring student finalists from COMM 15000: Intro to Human Communication, who perform their persuasive speeches from class. COMM 15000 is open to all 江南体育 State students. This year鈥檚 forum, which took place April 12, was the first to be held since 2019 due to the pandemic.
Community members are invited to evaluate the students鈥� speeches, and the finalists are awarded scholarships.
First Place: Mariah Taylor, 鈥�25 / Topic: Our Opioids
For sophomore Mariah Taylor, an accounting major from Ravenna, inspiration for her persuasive speech topic, 鈥淥ur Opioids鈥� hit close to home.
鈥淚 selected the topic to honor my cousin Omar Burns who died from an opioid overdose last October,鈥� she said. 鈥淗is birthday was actually the day of the forum. ... It鈥檚 important to shed light on such a dark subject to guide those lost to a better life of recovery and inform those who don鈥檛 know how to help.鈥�
Through crafting this speech, Taylor learned to incorporate essential communication skills in her speech and in everyday conversations. She says it's important to understand your audience, be an active listener and be engaging.
Being a finalist and winning the competition was an opportunity for her to spread awareness to others.
鈥淚t meant having the opportunity to help someone else not have to visit their loved one in the cemetery,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淧lease stay informed, stay safe, and stay aware.鈥�
Second Place: Morgan Hoover, 鈥�26 / Topic: Stop Saying Sorry
Freshman public relations major Morgan Hoover (Dublin, OH) was inspired to speak on the topic 鈥淪top Saying Sorry鈥� because of personal experiences with over-apologizing.
鈥淚 selected the topic of over-apologizing because of personal ties,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 overuse the words, 鈥業'm sorry鈥� way too often, to the point that it has affected my relationship with myself and others. I wanted to spread awareness of this word's weight and allow everyone else to reflect on if they use it too much because they probably do.鈥�
An important communication skill she learned was to refrain from memorizing speeches.
Third Place: Faith Jester, 鈥�25 / Topic: Labels in the Neurodivergent World
Sophomore visual communication design major Faith Jester (Green, OH) was inspired to pursue the topic 鈥淟abels in the Neurodivergent World鈥� because of her personal experience living on the autism spectrum.
鈥淚 wanted to choose something that meant a lot to me and something that I would want a lot of people to hear if I was going to stand up and speak in front of a bunch of people which was way out of my comfort zone,鈥� Jester said. 鈥淭his topic is important to me because I am on the autism spectrum myself and I am personally affected by the high-functioning label.鈥�
Through this class, Jester was able to learn and practice plenty of communication and presentation skills.
鈥淚 learned how to present more by using change in tone, hand gestures and pausing in my sentence,鈥� she said.
She said she will carry with her lessons in confidence she gained through this process.
Other Awards
Two students earned honorable mentions for their speeches:
- Freshman Kalel Soria, mechanical engineering technology major: "Are You a Good Listener?"
- Sophomore Kelsey Hill, managerial marketing major: "Dove in the Next 10 Years"
First place winner Mariah Taylor also won the People's Choice Award (voted on by the audience).
