Last week, Plant Hall played host to the first ever UT Speech Tournament. With topics ranging from civil rights to guacharo caves to homemade ice cream, the speeches were easily as diverse as the speakers.

The overall winners were Whitney Richard in First Place, Rose Connolly in Second, Cory Hopkins in Third and Brena Adamczyk in Fourth. “Winning speeches had clear theses, reasoning and or support, excellent presentation skill, and followed the speech contest guidelines,” said Assistant Speech Professor Christopher Gurrie.

Other entrants included Hillary Wild, Selina Ong’Ong’a, Mike Ciapas, Kristina Beadle, Marissa Viverito, Robert Crapo, Kimberly Truong, Caitlin Scudder, Mia Dorton, Paul Blackmon Jr., Mike Bucciarelli, and Jennifer Brazon.