Rising second-year student Jalen Tolbert places second at national speech and debate competition

Rising second-year student Jalen Tolbert placed second in a national speech and debate competition at Illinois State University, which took place April 15-18.

“To be one of the best first year competitors in the entire country, makes me hopeful for what I can accomplish next year,” Tolbert said.

Tolbert, a communication studies major in the Scripps College of Communication, placed second in Novice Prose Interpretation, which required contestants to take a piece of literature and perform it as their own interpretation. He qualified for the “True Novice” final for Prose Interpretation since it was his first year doing speech and debate.

“I learned a lot about the competition, but I also learned a lot about new topics, ideas and perspectives,” Tolbert said.

For his Novice Prose Interpretation, he performed a piece based off a short story by Al Letson. The story was about a black man who used the "college ID trick" every time that he got pulled over, a “trick” that is done regularly by minority groups. When the police officer would ask for identification and registration, he would give the officer his college ID as well.

“I drove home, back to Dayton, frequently during the school year. Every time I did, I made sure that I wore OHIO merchandise, so if I was pulled over the officer knew I was a college student,” Tolbert said. “I found the piece of literature and it really resonated with me, so I decided to go with it.”

Tolbert first learned about speech and debate through his learning community leaders Jennifer Talbert and Katie Gold.

“They told me to come to a team meeting, and the rest was history,” he said.

Talbert, who was also Tolbert’s coach, helped him throughout the process and showed him the importance of doing his best. His mentor Soren Starkey was also helpful and inspiring to him.

“He (Tolbert) had great energy and I suggested that he be a part of the Speech and Debate Team,” Talbert said. “The Speech and Debate team doesn’t just help students be excellent speakers, it helps them along their journey at Ohio University.”

Speech and Debate coaches work one-on-one with the students to prepare for competition. They help the students perfect their performances and make travel arrangements to attend tournaments.

“I believe that even though I work and assist the students, each student owns their success,” Talbert said.