Summer Speech Institute a Success

Dog.
Dog-Cat.
Dog-Cat-Froggie!
Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Froggy
Eating up the fleas and the little spiders.
Jump jump jump jump little Froggy.
Worms and fleas scrumdillisous.
I said a ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit rib-a rib-a croak!
A rib-a croak.
A rib-a croak.
FROGGIE!

This was one of the exercises students were heard chanting on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus each morning for a week. At 8 a.m. each day, after breakfast, 34 high school students from Minnesota, North Dakota, and Iowa, warmed up their vocal chords to prepare for a day at Gustavus’s speech institute.

The College held its first Summer Speech Institute Aug. 5-10. The six-day institute offered intense forensics training in the areas of oral interpretation of literature, public address, and extemporaneous speaking.

Students spent the week learning about the nuances of their particular event while preparing to compete in the institute’s culminating event, the Forensics Festival. In addition to working on a primary event with the intent of leaving the institute with a tournament-ready speech, students learned vocal warm-ups, tournament etiquette, the value of nonverbal communication, and the confidence necessary to compete at the highest level.

Other institute highlights included a picnic in the Linnaeus Arboretum, a bonfire, a banquet, and “Gustie Value” sessions focusing on the importance of excellence, preparation, revision, and motivation.

In addition to working with Gustavus coaches, students worked with and learned from nationally recognized collegiate competitors and area collegiate and high school coaches. In all, 20 staff members worked at the institute throughout the week.

“I know this experience will motivate me in the regular speech season and other aspects of my life to always work hard and strive for excellence,” said one student camper.

The Gustavus Summer Speech Institute will be offered again next summer. For more information, contact institute director and college forensics director Kristofer Kracht at 507-933-7486 or kkracht@gustavus.edu.

Gustavus has a long and rich tradition of excellence in forensics. Under Kracht’s leadership, in 2006-07 the Gustavus forensics team won numerous individual and group awards at national and state competitions, including the following:

• Top 20 at the 2007 American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament;
• Second place at the 2007 Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament and Convention;
• A representative on both the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament and Pi Kappa Delta All-American teams;
• Qualified for the Interstate Oratorical Association National Contest three consecutive years; and
• 2007 Minnesota Collegiate Forensics Association State Parliamentary Debate Champions.