The Yuba College Speech Team broke its own record late April at the Ohlone College Spring Fling Speech Tournament, earning a total of 16 medals at the event that drew 15 colleges and universities into competition. The team won medals in every event offered at the tournament, and every team member took home an award. The events of the competition consisted of dramatic duo, persuasive, interpretation, impromptu speaking and informative speaking. For dramatic duo the contestants are assigned a partner from another college to enact a scene that they are given when they arrive. Yuba College students swept up in this event. Matt Cervantes won first place; Brian Jukes took home second; Colleen Sullivan earned third; and Marco Ruiz received forth place.
Likewise, Yuba College students cleaned up in persuasive speaking, an event during which contestants try to convince their audience of a solution to a wide-spread problem. Yuba College student John Modgling took first place in the event. Colleen Sullivan brought home the second place award, and Sukhdip Uppal earned third. Michael Weatherson and Melissa Loscher took fourth place.
In the interpretation category, contestants read a short piece of literature, either poetry, prose, drama or fiction. Brian Jukes earned third place in prose interpretation, and Marco Ruiz took fourth place.Impromptu speaking is an event for which contestants must speak on one of three assigned topics on the spot, with no more than two minutes of preparation. John Modgling took third place in impromptu; Brian Jukes and Shannon Doscher took fourth.
The informative speaking category includes contestants who try to inform the audience of a timely topic. Matt Cervantes won fourth place informative. Melissa Loscher took home fourth place for informative. Yuba College professor Suzanne Ruckle, the coach for the team, said, “I’m extremely proud of this semester’s speech team! These students are mostly brand-new to this level of public speaking and drama competition, so their improvement has been remarkable.”
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