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Wednesday, October 24, 2018 • Vol. 47, No. 3 • HCCEgalitarian.com
Hondurans flee by 1000’s See Page 3
4th annual HCC Speech Tournament Ana Gonzalez
agonzalez@hccegalitarian.com
Competitors were in good spirits on the morning of October 20th at Houston Community College Eastside Campus, as the 4th Annual Speech Tournament went underway. A total of 19 competitors participated in the tournament. Danielle Stagg, HCC Interim Chair of Speech and Communication and Speech Professor Paralee Shivers organized the event. The 19 competitors had to
create a three to five minute speech on one of the topics that span from the importance of voting, to hunger and the importance of food programs, as well as Hurricane Harvey and the effect on student success. They were judged by a set of 10 judges that range from HCC professors to community members and pastors. The majority of the tournament contestants were part of a speech class, such as Shivers’ SPCH 1315, and Professor Angela Anderson’s SPCH 1311. HCC Speech Professor
James Duvall, and former HCC Student, now Alief ISD teacher Idee Tezeyombi were the emcees of the tournament. Both educators provided some form of comedy and entertainment while judges were scoring the contestants. HCC Eastside Communications Director Felipe Reyes, as well as Dr. Stephen Levey, associate vice chancellor for academic instruction educational development wished the contestants the best of luck. Both of them said that they are all winners and they appreciate
their hard work and their effort. Student Aiden Wernig was the first to start off the tournament. His speech was about the importance of voting, emphasizing the upcoming midterm elections this coming November. “There is a war on your right to vote, and I would like to give you the ammunition to fight,” he said. He also tackled the rise in voter suppression and fraud in several states across the country. Another student empha-
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sized the importance of volunteering, which was one of the other topics contestants could use for their speech. Hospitality management student Vinh Le used his company, Volunteer for Tourism Vietnam, to showcase facts that students should at least try to volunteer for an activity. Le is a freshman, and an international student from Vietnam. He says that volunteering helped him to learn and
see Speech, Page 6