Fraser Speaking Competition

THE COMPETITION IS OPEN TO ANY CURRENT COM 114 STUDENTS AND WILL FEATURE THREE ROUNDS:

• Round 1: Teams submit a one-page proposal of their project including a justification, plan and budget.
• Round 2: 16 semi-finalist groups present to a panel of judges.
• Round 3: Four finalist groups present in front of a panel of celebrity judges.

AWARDS:

• All teams in the final round receive a certificate.
• The winning team receives $1,000.
• The second place team receives $500.
• The third place team receives $250.
• Each member of a semi-finalist team will receive a prize.
• The winning team’s project is funded and completed by the COM Cares service organization.

PRESENTATIONS AND PROPOSALS WILL BE JUDGED ON THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

• Quality of verbal delivery
• Quality of visual aids
• Feasibility of the proposed project
• Potential impact of the proposed project
• Quality of persuasive arguments to support the proposed project
• Team cohesiveness
• The feasibility of the proposed project to address a local social issu

Fall 2022 Winner

The team that won the Fall 2022 Fraser Speaking Competition included: Katie Gold, Izzy Brogan, and Katie Cunningham. They were taught by Cari Boersma. Their winning proposal is to set up bins in residence hall laundry rooms to collect used clothing that students no lnger want so it can be donated. At the end of each semester the students will gather the donated clothing and donate it to the local Goodwill and Millie’s Thrift Shop.  The aims of the project are to provide clothing to low income individuals in the community and to reduce textile waste. 

Fall 2021 Winner

The team that won the Fall 2021 Fraser Speaking Competition included (from left to right): Miles Klube, Vanessa Sida, Kelly Reagin, Abby Miller, Remmington Moeller, and Nick Quinn. They were taught by Connor Evans. Their winning proposal is to set up bins outside of various on-campus markets at the end of the Spring semester in which students can buy non-perishable foods with their extra dining dollars and donate the food to the ACE Food Pantry, which helps makes food more readily available to members of the Purdue community who may be experiencing food insecurity on a consistent or inconsistent basis. Their project is the focus of the Spring 2021 Com Cares student group’s work and is funded by the Fraser Speaking Competition.

Spring 2019 Winner

The team that won the Spring 2019 Fraser Speaking Competition included: Andrew Chen, David Israbian, Ben Perillo, Rhiana Ragheb, and Crystal Webb. They were taught by Monika Tomar and their plan focused on building bat houses to protect bat species that are native to this area. Their project is the focus of the Fall 2019 Com Cares student group’s work and is funded by the Fraser Speaking Competition.

Fall 2018 Winner

The team that won the inaugural Fraser Speaking Competition included: Aryan Ghadge, Tristan Hargett, Claire Rightley, Payton Yardley, and Arman Yousefizadeh. They were taught by Mr. Andrew Exner and their plan focused on reducing plastic straw waste on providing Purdue students with reusable straws and decreasing the presence of single-use plastic straws in restaurants on campus. Their project is the focus of the Spring 2019 Com Cares student group’s work and is funded by the Fraser Speaking Competition.

Fall 2018 First Runner Up

The first runner up team in the Fall 2018 Fraser Speaking Competition included Elizabeth Bir, Connor Burton, Riley King, Adrienne Rudolph,and Mrigank Sharma, taught by Mr. Kevin Ryan. Their project focused on establishing an organization on campus to create low-cost 3D printed prosthetics by partnering with eNable. Although their project will not be funded through the Fraser Speaking Competition, members of the Purdue and Greater Lafayette communities were so impressed with the team’s idea, that they are helping to provide funding for the project to move forward!