BU Honors Students Give Back to the Community
Students in Bluefield University’s Honors Speech class are not only learning the fundamentals of public speaking, but also teaching those skills while giving back to the community through a community service project at Graham High School.
The spring HON 1813 Fundamentals of Speech students — Mollie Bolton, Landon Breeden, Jonathan Collier and Courtney Wright – recently evaluated the oral presentations of Graham High School students in Future Business Leaders of America who are preparing for the FBLA National Competition in Atlanta, Georgia, this summer. The GHS students qualified for the national event by placing in the top four of their respective competitions at the Virginia FBLA State Competition. GHS business teacher and FBLA adviser Jason Hayes said the practice with and feedback from the BU Honors students will be invaluable.
“I really believe that this will give the students tremendous insight into the art of public speaking,” Hayes said. “Most of these students do not get time to prepare for the speaking components of their FBLA events. This gives them an opportunity to present in front of people they do not know and receive honest feedback.”
The BU Honors students listened to four GHS FBLA groups offer oral presentations, public service announcements, and role plays. They evaluated the presentations and the public speaking skills of each group and offered feedback and suggestions for improvement.
“Our students were nervous to do this, but were very grateful for the opportunity to receive the feedback to help polish their skills,” Hayes said. “The constructive feedback they received will help our students perform better as they advance in the various levels of competition.”
Hayes added that the practice in front of others will also help his students overcome the fear of public speaking and help them better manage their nervousness as they prepare to present in a similar environment for competition.
“I really enjoyed seeing the creativity in the students’ speeches, especially the ones which responded to a prompt and required a quicker and more extemporaneous response,” said BU’s Jonathan Collier, one of the Honors Speech students who majors in Cybersecurity. “One of the biggest things I learned during these speeches was the idea of vocal variety. The area I am most often asked to improve on in our speeches in class is my vocal variety, and while I knew what it meant from our lessons, seeing both strong and weaker vocal variety in practice in this setting helped me identify areas I need to improve in.”
Collier added that he was impressed with the Graham High School students and with the effort they put into their presentations. Because he also participated in FBLA in high school, Collier said he is well aware of how much work goes into preparing for FBLA events, especially for national competition.
“I was astonished at just how dedicated these students are and how seriously they are taking their competitions,” Collier said. “My favorite part of watching these students’ speeches was seeing the excitement and work they put into them.”
Fundamentals of Speech is a general education course requirement for all Bluefield University students. It is a performance-oriented class that provides training and real-life experience in public speaking, including the presentation of introductory, informative, persuasive, impromptu, and commemorative speeches. Students who enroll in an Honors section of the course are required to complete activities and assignments that enhance their depth of knowledge of the course content. These more in-depth and hands-on learning experiences include added research for speech presentations and serving as speaker evaluators for high school students.
“Communication includes listening, so it’s important that we give our Speech students not only opportunities to speak, but also opportunities to listen to public speakers,” said Chris Shoemaker, professor of the Honors Speech class. “Listening and evaluating the performance of other speakers helps our students better understand speaker effectiveness and ultimately improve their own speech skills.”
But Breeden, one of the Honors Speech students who majors in Christian Studies, noted that improving their own public speaking skills is not all the BU students accomplished.
“I believe that going to other schools and evaluating other students can form good community amongst students, teachers, and staff,” Breeden said. “I am glad we went, and I hope that the students received feedback that could possibly help them.”
According to the Bluefield University website, the Honors program at BU offers students “a challenging academic experience, opportunities for travel to meet other honors students across the country, and the means to expand their horizons.” The program features innovative courses and other activities designed to improve students’ analytical thinking, writing, and research skills. In addition, the program includes an interdisciplinary seminar that integrates different areas of knowledge and culminates in a significant research project.
“I enjoyed the experience,” said Mollie Bolton, one of the Honors Speech students who majors in Exercise and Sport Science about the trip to GHS, “and being able to call on the things we learned in class to help other people improve their speaking skills.”
Shoemaker added that he hopes the work with Graham High School students not only reminds BU students of the value of community service, but also makes them better public speakers.
“I believe this was a tremendous opportunity for my students,” Hayes said, “and I hope that we can continue to partner with Bluefield University in this aspect going forward.”