Though he’s been on the stage since the age of 5, second-year nursing student Jason Bernabe is preparing for a completely new kind of presentation.
The 19-year-old will have the chance to represent UCLA’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in front of dozens of campus organizations on Wednesday as part of the first Bruin Speech Contest.
Bernabe will be joined by eight other speakers representing issues ranging from human trafficking to education in the first interorganizational speech contest.
Organizers are hoping to attract around 1,000 attendees, mainly members from the different groups participating.
“This contest definitely gives something fresh for the students,” Bernabe said. “It lets them know exactly what is going on outside of UCLA and prepares them for when they graduate and go out there in the world.”
The campus group IDEAL Leaders Association partnered with the Bruin Toastmasters to pioneer the event.
“I felt like both clubs shared a mission to improve their members’ ability to speak well … so we put the two together,” said Parus Suraprasert, president of IDEAL and vice president of education for Bruin Toastmasters.
Several leadership and social activism student groups were invited to send one speaker to take part in the contest, titled “Speak Up!” The topics they will address on Wednesday include transracial adoption in the U.S., human trafficking, AIDS awareness, women in developing countries, education, prioritizing food and LGBT rights.
According to IDEAL’s director of marketing, Nina Gupta, this title calls students and clubs to come and talk about issues they are passionate about.
Among the speakers is third-year history student Fabijan Spralja, who will speak on the issue of abortion on behalf of the organization Live Action.
The event is essential to the university’s mission to “provide a forum in which knowledge is created, debated and critiqued,” Spralja said.
“This contest is important because sometimes living at UCLA, students can get stuck in a bubble and are not aware of what is going on around them,” Gupta said. “There are a lot of issues that we need to address and at least be aware of.”
The speakers come from separate organizations, and groups who are not represented were able to endorse speakers of their choice. Counting endorsements, more than 30 groups are taking part in the contest.
“We’re really trying to emphasize the organizational aspect of the speech contest,” said Jessica Chen, director of public relations for IDEAL. “This is not really about the individual, but about the cause that the individual is supporting.”
Some of the participants said they were surprised that this event made it off the ground.
“At the beginning I didn’t think it was going to be possible because it’s such a big event,” said Carlo Chupina, a UCLA alumnus and current employee who will be speaking on AIDS awareness. “As an undergraduate I never participated in anything like this, and I think it’s a great opportunity for people from all walks of life who share a mission and opinion about something to speak out.”
The contest will be judged by a panel of UCLA faculty and staff who have experience in public speaking. The second- and third- place speakers will be awarded with a plaque, while the first-place speaker will receive a plaque and a pizza party for their group.
Attendees will have the opportunity to enter in a raffle before the contest with a chance of winning a 10-day trip to Thailand, among other prizes.
“I hope (the contest) will get bigger in the future,” Suraprasert said. “I want to make it a tradition.”
With reports by Jerusha Liu, Bruin contributor.