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Goshen College

Local, international issues take center stage during annual peace oratorical contest

February 4, 2014

Lauren Trieber, a peace, justice and conflict studies major from Grand Rapids, Mich., speaks during the 2012 C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest.
Lauren Treiber, a peace, justice and conflict studies major from Grand Rapids, Mich., speaks during the 2012 C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest.

Lecture: C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest
Date and time: Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Umble Center
Cost: Free and open to the public

Five Goshen College students will present speeches during the 2014 C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The annual event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Umble Center and is free and open to the public.

This year’s participants and their topics are:

  • Abby Deaton, a junior communication major from Indianapolis, Ind., will speak on “The welcome table: discussing Goshen College’s hiring policy.” Deaton was runner up in the 2013 contest.
  • Alma Rosa Carrillo Flores, a freshman nursing major from Mexico City, Mexico, will speak on “Ciudad Juarez female laborers: victims of femicides.”
  • Lauren Treiber, a senior peace, justice and conflict studies major from Grand Rapids, Mich., will speak on “A case for faith-feminism: women are disciples too.”  As a sophomore, Treiber won the 2012 Goshen College contest and won first prize in Mennonite Central Committee’s national contest.
  • Natasha Weisenbeck, a senior public relations major from Clifton, Ill., will speak on “Saving Africa from the media: replacing aid with collaboration.”

The participants will deliver 8- to 10-minute speeches on topics of their choosing that relate to peace. The speeches will be judged on originality, integration of the topic and a peace position, and general standards of delivery. Refreshments will be provided while the judges deliberate.

The C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest is a U.S/Canada Mennonite Central Committee-sponsored event. Participants compete for cash prizes provided by the trust of C. Henry Smith, a Mennonite historian and professor at Goshen and Bluffton (Ohio) colleges. The purpose of the contest is to give students the opportunity to become involved with the cause for peace and develop rhetorical skills.

Speech contests have been a tradition at Goshen College since the early 1900s. The C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest provides the opportunity for the campus community to hear about contemporary peace issues. For an archive of past winners, visit www.goshen.edu/communication/about/contest.

–      By Kelley Scholfield