Last night in The Alumni Conference room eight students shared their stories at the College Experience Showcase hoping to inspire their peers to make the most of their college life and learn some valuable lessons.
The room was filled with spoken word, music, laughs and applause at students recounts. There was competition for the crowd’s favorite speaker.
Each speaker had a designated topic to discuss. The speakers were freshman Le Peng Tee, freshman Jefferson De Luna, freshman Nhu Nguyen, freshman Matthew Spector, junior Munya Chimanye, junior Scael Andriamahefa and junior Iqbal Nasir Kahn.
Tee set the mood with his speech called “How the College Experience Matters in our Life.” He explained that experiences shape people and set them up for life.
He told his story of how doing poorly in his old university made him realize there were other things besides grades that mattered. He began to get involved in college and discover himself.
“It’s a place to establish your identity,” Tee said. “Don’t let grades define us; Let passion define us.”
Tee said he used to major in international business but switched to sociology. He had been told sociology couldn’t help to make a living, but he choose what he loved.
De Luna wrote a speech called “Dear Jefferson” where he wrote a letter to himself. In the letter he highlighted he is a role model, he made sacrifices, he needs discipline and made the choice to be here.
Nguyen’s speech was named “Be Yourself,” and in it she stressed that parents no longer look after their grown-up children.
“Don’t be proud to be in the college, make the college proud to have you,” Nguyen said.
“How maturing has changed my life for the better,” in his speech Spector piggy-backed off of Nhu by explaining making decisions are a part of growing up. He also touched on that he learned to see different perspectives and how to prioritize.
Nguyen’s topic was “How Good Friends Can Improve your Life.” Nguyen said that the group of friends he had in high school followed him into college.
This created a tight bond, smooth transition and honest friendship. He feels comfortable talking to them about anything, and that people should have friends like that.
Andriamahefa’s speech was called “Food for Thought.” He opened up about his addiction to social media, and how up until a year ago, it was taking over his life. Andriamahefa said people had to choose whether they wanted to be a spectator or a player in their college experience.
Andriamahefa’sopening about being reversed robbed shocked everyone and made the audience laugh. Andriamahefa said the robbery was figurative.
Andriamahefa talked about a person throwing trash into his house and covering his walls in dank memes. It was meant to show how his mind was being polluted by social media.
Khan’s “Be who you are by doing what you can” was the final act. Khan recapped his struggle with finding a career that he loved despite the lack of support he had to follow his dreams.
Khan said he wanted to share his story and the Oratory Society gave him the platform to do it. He called the speech challenging, because he had his struggles with English.
“Make the difference and be the focus,” Kan said.
His efforts and passion showed greatly when the crowd applauded his last words and voted him its favorite.
The Oratory Society Treasurer Ha Nguyen said that they prepared for the event a semester in advance and they wanted people to make friends and take advantage of the opportunities of college
Email Daneane Johnson at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
