Fraser Speaking Competition
Each semester the Lamb School hosts a speaking competition to honor William Fraser, a former media teacher at Lafayette Jefferson High School. The purpose of the competition is to recognize excellence in presentational speaking among Purdue undergraduates. Additionally, the competition aims to highlight the important skills of explaining complex information to different audiences, a skill that all Boilermakers will use in their future pursuits.
To participate in the competition, students are nominated by their instructor who will submit a video of the student’s explanation presentation. In 3-4 minutes, students will explain a complex topic in a simple and engaging way that audiences with varying levels of knowledge would be able to understand.
SPRING 2024
Fraser Speaking Competition Finals
When: Thursday, April 18th at 6:00 PM
Where: Class of 1950 room 224
Fall 2023 Winners
1st Cora Wood Color Blindness
2nd Elizabeth Cagle Paralysis
3rd Mylie Roberts How the Mariana Trench was Formed
4th Tony Miller Positive Reinforcement
5th Mary Ashley Stevenson Vitamins
6th Milan Srnic Beowulf Clusters
THE COMPETITION IS OPEN TO ANY CURRENT COM 114 STUDENTS AND WILL FEATURE THREE ROUNDS
- Round 1: Students must be nominated by their instructor who submits a video of the student delivering their presentation. A panel of judges evaluates the presentations and select presentations move on to the semi-final round.
- Round 2: Semi-finalists deliver their presentation in person to the judges.
- Round 3: Five finalists move on to the final round and present in front of a panel of judges. The final round is open to the public.
AWARDS:
- First place receives $500
- Second place receives $400
- Third place receives $300
- Fourth place receives $200
- Fifth place receives $100
PRESENTATIONS AND PROPOSALS WILL BE JUDGED ON THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
- Quality of verbal delivery
- Quality of verbal delivery
- Quality of visual aids
- Quality of the explanation to support understanding from a non-expert audience
- Quality of supporting evidence to support explanation
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!