(Graphic by: Jamilete Hernandez.)

The Spring 2025 edition of the Stine Speaking Showcase is set for April 16. To preview the event, we talked with Kaila Todd, a member of the Communication Studies faculty, who is also on the Showcase planning committee.

“The Stine Speaking Showcase is a speaking showcase that happens every semester,” Todd said. “All public speaking classes choose their best speaker, and then all of those best speakers from each class come together and they compete. And then the top five from the prelim rounds get to perform in the big event.”. 

The event had existed in the past, but this version of the showcase started last year. 

“We had previously had a showcase, but we didn’t have one that happened every semester and it kind of happened sporadically, and we decided that we wanted to showcase our students every single semester,” Todd mentioned. 

When the department brought the showcase back, they had to think of what to name it.

“When we were thinking about what we wanted to name the showcase, the committee was trying to decide, do we want to name it ‘Public Speaking Showcase,’ or you know, ‘Comm Studies Showcase’ or something like that,” Todd said. 

They eventually decided to name it after a retired JCCC professor. 

“I had the idea that we should think about somebody who has previously worked in our department and naming it after them. Because that sort of creates legacy within our department, and helps students see that even if you’re just taking this class for one semester, you’re part of a broader picture, and a broader number of students who have learned public speaking skills here at Johnson County,” Todd continued. “And so we decided that we would name it after Professor Dick Stine, who worked at JCCC for many years and he retired a few years ago. But he coached the debate team for a while. He was a professor and he is still a professor emeritus now, even though he hasn’t taught classes in a little bit. And so because of all of the contributions that he had made to our department, we decided to name it after him.”

The semifinalists for the showcase are chosen in each public speaking class, and they all have their own selection method. 

“Each public speaking class each semester will nominate their best speaker. And so what that looks like looks different in different classes,” Todd said. “So most of the time in my classes I ask for nominations, and students will nominate who they think should represent us. And then I ask the students if they accept the nomination. I know in some other classes the teacher chooses the best one, some of them the teacher might choose the best three and then the class votes. And so it really is [that] each class gets to decide who they are choosing to represent them and that looks different. Each professor kind of decides differently.” 

Each nominee then performs in the semifinals that are not open to the public. 

“There are two semifinal rounds. So we’ll have one at 4 p.m., one at 5 p.m., so semifinalists will give their speech two times, and then the top five based on those two performances [will move on to the final],” Todd said. 

The two rounds of semi finals are here to make sure that the best speakers make it to the final round. 

“They’ll have two judges in each room, and so we have a total of four scores to determine who makes the top five,” Todd explained. “We’re trying to eliminate a little bit of subjectivity and to really advance the best speeches. They’ll give that speech and they’ll have four scores, we’ll add up all of those four scores, and then the top five. And if there’s somebody who really loved it or who didn’t like it, it kind of helps average that out, and like I said, eliminate a little bit of subjectivity, so that the best speakers are the ones to make it to the final.”

The judging panel is made up of people with public speaking experience and community members. 

“The judges are always either people who have taught public speaking in the past or people in our Johnson County Community College bubble, who have experience either with public speaking engagements themselves or with a background in communication studies, or we pull in members of the community as well,” Todd said.

What is new for this edition, is that all five finalists will get scholarship money (instead of the top 3, and donations for 4th and 5th place, in previous editions). 

“This semester the winner’s gonna get $300, the runner up will get $250 and then third place will get $175 and then 4th and 5th will both get $100,” Todd mentioned. 

This upgrade is thanks to the hard work of the division’s Dean.

“Our Dean in our division was able to find some money.” Todd declared. “So we’re very thankful to Dean Shawver for finding some money so that we would be able to provide scholarships to all of the finalists,”

The Spring 2025 edition of the Stine Speaking Showcase will take place on Wednesday, April 16. The final round, open to the public, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Hudson Auditorium.