On Nov. 9, the University of Tampa will hold its Bi-Annual Speech Contest. Participants will discuss a topic of their choice for six to eight minutes, and the speaker with the strongest speech wins $150. One of the participants is Timothy Bourn, a student who has been very successful in the past few campus speech competitions.
“I have entered the speech contest four times, and I have won four times,” Bourn said.
Bourn, a junior theater major, has spoken about a variety of topics including cognitive neuroscience, sweaters, coffee and theater. He has also given advice to other competitors.
“I’ve gotten questions ranging from choice in topic, style of speech and even just any tips I can provide,” Bourn said.
Bourn’s notorious winning streak has won him lots of attention from his competitors.
“Who hasn’t heard of Tim Bourn and his accomplishments?” said Teree’ Douglas, a junior theater major.
While many competitors know about Bourn’s winning streak, they are not nervous about it.
“I’m not intimidated since there’ll be recognition for the top few places,” said Russell McBurnie, a freshman pre-law major.
“He [Bourn] and I competed in speech competitions,” Matthew Saintsing said, a senior government and world affairs major. “I’m not intimidated, but I am impressed by his public speaking gift. He is one of the most eloquent, intelligent young men I know and I’m more honored to be in the same competition with him as opposed to being intimidated by him.”
With the competition just around the corner, the participants have been working hard to nail down their speeches.
“I have been preparing for a couple weeks now,” said Kelsey Lay, a sophomore marketing major. “I try to edit it and add to it every now and then when I get the time.”
“I am entering one of my speeches from my honors communications course,” said McBurnie. “So I practiced about a week earlier this year and will practice again the week of the competition after I do my other speech for my course.”
Although McBurnie and Lay admit this is their first time competing in UT’s speech contest, Saintsing has competed against Bourn twice before.
“The first time I entered was for the extra credit in a speech class,” Saintsing said. “This time, I entered because it’s fun and a challenge.”
Although Douglas has not competed in UT’s speech competition, she is no novice.
“I won first place at a Martin Luther King Jr. speech contest when I was seventeen,” said Douglas.
Although Bourn still has a few more semesters left before he graduates, he has planned ahead.
“I will most likely continue on to graduate school and work toward my terminal degree in acting and directing,” Bourn said.
The competition will take place at Riverside room 107 from 6-9 p.m. next Friday night. If you have a friend who is competing, want to learn from skilled public speakers or are just looking for something to do, feel free to stop by. For those of you who want to participate next semester, Bourn has some advice: “Talk about something you love. Talk about something you want to share with others. Most importantly, have fun doing it.”
Jake Koniszewski can be reached at john.koniszewski@spartans.ut.edu