2014 Fall Advocacy Contest
News
On Friday, November 13th, four undergraduate students took center stage to speak out about health. The four speakers were the finalists in the Fall 2014 Public Advocacy Contest, hosted by the JMU Communication Center and co-sponsored by the JMU Health Center. Students who entered the contest had to answer the question “What is the most pressing health issue for college students?” and the top four entries were chosen to give their speeches in the Festival Ballroom to an audience of more than 220 students to compete for cash prizes.
The speakers each identified different health topics of concern, and all four made strong arguments as to why those topics matter to colleges. First place went to Hunter Sjogren for his speech about slacktivism, second place to Aimme Chen for her speech on eating disorders, third place went to Diante’ Ryals who spoke about stress and axiety, and Sarah Wheeler took fourth place for her presentation on mental health.
Students used statistics, stories, and personal experiences as the foundations of their speeches, making it clear to the audience just how pressing these issues are for college campuses. Speeches were informative, explaining eating disorders, mental illness, stress, and other concepts, but students took their presentations a step farther, advocating for students to take action to address the topics they presented.
For Aimme Chen, this came down to a need for self-care, and she gave students the eloquent advice to “nourish you body, your mind, and your spirit, and your future self will thank you.” Hunter Sjogren, the contest winner, made taking action to prevent slacktivism easy by giving students what he called “the two-week rule.” In order to decide whether a social media cause is worth supporting, he advised students to ask the question, “two weeks from now, will you remember to give and support that issue?”
After the speeches, the audience had the chance to ask questions of the speakers, creating an engaging discussion space where the students, staff, and faculty members present had the chance to deliberate the merits of different responses to health issues. The discussion included consideration of whether universities should request that students with considerable mental illness withdraw from the university in order to seek treatment, what the role of the university should be when supporting students with health issues, and when health-related interventions should occur.
The contest was truly interdisciplinary, with speakers from several different majors including Spanish, chemistry, dietetics, and communication, and judges that represented several disciplines and departments with an interest in the contest theme. The judges were Cindy Allen, from the School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication, Pete Bsumek, Associate Professor in the School of Communication Studies, Randy Mitchell, Associate Vice President in Student Success, and Stephen Rodgers, the University Health Center Medical Director.
After such a successful Public Advocacy Contest this semester, the Communication Center looks forward to the Public Advocacy Contest in Spring 2015, and encourages all students to stand up and speak out.
