Seven Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC) communication studies students—two of whom are high school students taking dual-credit college classes as part of IUPUC’s Early College Program—will compete for scholarship funds during the biannual SpeakEasy competition at 11 a.m. on Friday, December 7.

The competition is open to all COMM R110 students. This semester, all competitors are from Columbus, with the exception of Mikala Greenlee, who is from Hope. Their names, majors, and speech topics include:

•  Sarah Branham | Business management major
  “Historic Indiana Hotels”
  
  
•  Mikala Greenlee | Early College Program (Hauser Junior-Senior High School)
  “Corneal Refractive Therapy”
  
  
• William Rogerson | Pre-finance major
  “Architecture in Columbus”
  
  
• Levi Simonton | Early College Program (home-schooled student)
  “The History of Television”
  
  
• Maggie Taylor | University College
  “Individuals with Down’s Syndrome”
  
  
• Aaron Watson | Mechanical engineering major
  “C4 Education”
  
  
• Katlyn Westmeyer | Education major
  “Finding your Inner Child”

Students selected for the competition  are nominated by classmates and their instructors based on the quality of their public speaking skills in the classroom.

“The event is a outstanding opportunity for students to express themselves in a competition environment,” said Matt Rothrock, coordinator of the university’s Academic Resource Center.

Students will be judged on the basis of their delivery skills, speech structure, visual aids, and overall presentation style. Judges for the competition include:

• James Boldman
  Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Science
  Ivy Tech Community College/Columbus-Franklin
  
  
• John Foster
  Director of Programming
  White River Broadcasting Company
  
  
• Kevin Jones
  Assistant Professor of Management
  Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus
  
  
• Lisa Siefker-Bailey
  Lecturer in English
  Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus
  
  
• Pat Smith
  President, Turning Point Domestic Violence Services

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Columbus Learning Center Lecture Hall & Auditorium. Light refreshments will be served immediately following the competition in the Student Commons, which is adjacent to the Lecture Hall.

For more information, please contact Dr. Anna Carmon, professor of communication studies, at acarmon@iupuc.edu or 812.348.7213 or Matt Rothrock, Academic Resource Center coordinator, at mcrothro@iupuc.edu or 812.314.8753.