UCF Speech Team Shines in Tournament
Story by UCF Nicholson School of Communication
February 18, 2016
Pictured left to right are UCF speech team members Walter Velasquez, Lukas Terhall, Madelyn Diaz, Hunter Menning, Amanda Grimsley, Kaitlynn Ramirez (background), Alex Gasparini, Steven Cruz, and Mairim Perez. (Team members not pictured are: Jon Gasior, Joshua Glener, Ryan Dorsett, Nicole Young and Caleb Spencer.)
The two-day speech competition event dubbed “The Knight-Nole Swing,” hosted jointly this year by the speech teams of the University of Central Florida (UCF) and Florida State University, brought together contenders from nine schools and resulted in a “fantastic success” for UCF, according to Instructor and Tournament Director Jonathan Conway. “It was the first time all year that the entire UCF speech team competed at the same tournament,” Conway said. And, “It was the first time we won a tournament as a team.” UCF was champion in five events and had finalists in 10. Individually, UCF student Madelyn Diaz ranked fourth overall at the tournament and UCF’s Mairem Perez finished fifth.
Held for the first time on the UCF main campus, the event took place the weekend of Feb. 13-14 at the Nicholson School of Communication (NSC). Present were speech team members from not only UCF and Florida State University, but also from the University of Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville, University of West Florida, Tallahassee Community College, Eastern Michigan University, Hillsborough Community College and Southeastern University.
UCF hosted the tournament on the first day of the event and competed on the second. Over the course of Sunday, students competed in their choice of 11 events, which were judged by coaches, volunteers and UCF faculty members. Twenty judges in total served at the event.
In the “After Dinner Speaking” competition category, Mairim Perez was champion and Hunter Menning took fourth place. For “Poetry Interpretation” Madelyn Diaz was champion. In the “Persuasive Speaking” category Steven Cruz was champion and Madelyn Diaz took the second-place prize. For “Programmed Oral Interpretation” Amanda Grimsley was champion, Mairim Perez placed fourth and Madelyn Diaz took fifth place. In the “Dramatic Interpretation” category Amanda Grimsley was champion and Mairim Perez won the fourth-place price. In the category of “Extemporaneous Speaking” Steven Cruz won second place and Lukas Terhall placed third. Alex Gasparini received the Top Novice award in this category. For “Prose Interpretation” Amanda Grimsley placed second and Mairim Perez took the sixth-place spot. In “Informative Speaking” Madelyn Diaz won third place and Hunter Menning took sixth place. In “Communication Analysis” Hunter Menning placed third. For “Impromptu Speaking” Walter Velasquez received the Top Novice award.
“I look forward to next year when we plan on adding parliamentary debate and expanding it to one bigger tournament over two days,” Conway said.
Congratulations to all the 2016 Knight-Nole Swing winners. Go Knights!