By Selina Ruiz
Staff Writer
There will be no room for “Mickey Mouse” topics at the Second Annual Womack Persuasive Speech Contest, according to Public Speaking Coordinator William “Rick” Rowland.
Rowland said the speech topics covered at this semester’s public speaking contest must be “cutting edge and relevant in the news today.”
The contest, reserved for this semester’s Speech 180 students, will take place during the week of Dec. 2.
Students in each of the 20 Speech 180 classes will be creating and presenting a speech on a topic of their choice as an assignment. From each class, one winner will be chosen to represent the class at semi finals on Dec. 2.
The 20 semi-finalists will be randomly assigned into one of four groups, where they will compete against each other for a spot in the final round to be held Dec. 4. The final four will compete for the top prize: $100, a plaque and his or her name on a perpetual trophy which is kept in the Communication building.
The other finalists receive $25 and a plaque and the 20 semi-finalists receive a gold medal. All awards are from the donations of Houghton Mifflin Publishing Co. and a representative will be present at finals on behalf of the company.
Semi finals will be held in four rooms at the Center for Communication and Business at 8 p.m. on Dec. 2 and finals will be on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. in Elkins Auditorium. Students and guests are welcomed and encouraged to attend both rounds.
“We have no speech team here at Pepperdine,” Rowland said, “and a lot of the universities [of our caliber] have national contests for their speech classes.” The idea is the brainchild of Rowland and Pepperdine’s speech faculty, stemming from another professor at the National Communication Association Convention which Rowland attended.
The competition was named after Dr. Morris Womack, former forensics coach and teacher at Pepperdine. He retired three years ago, after teaching at Pepperdine for more than three decades. Womack will make an appearance at the finals competition and will present the evening’s awards.
The final round is expected by Rowland to draw crowds and fill to capacity.
“Elkins was three-quarters full last year,” he said. “The program will be only an hour, with four students, each with speech time limits being 9 to 12 minutes.”
Rowland said the competition, though only for Speech 180 students, could eventually “lead to an advanced level, where it is open to everyone on campus. A lot of students haven’t thought about taking public speaking to the next step, and we hope to encourage them to take that next step with this competition.”
The only requirement, according to Rowland, is that the speech topic is “cutting edge. We don’t want to hear the Mickey Mouse topics about bicycle helmets, sun block and (skin) cancer; we don’t want students to go back in time and campaign for things that have been discussed since junior high.”
November 13, 2003