Hold for Applause
This being it’s 107th year, the Bailey Oratorical is the longest standing academic tradition at Juniata College. The Bailey Oratorical is one of Juniata College’s most prized possessions. A speech contest, the Bailey offers students a chance to win $1000 in cash for the best speech given. It occurs every spring and has 7 contestants who each give a 6–8 minute speech answering a prompt. This year, the winner was a Vietnamese student named Anh Ha. Her speech was incredibly written. It had humour, spunk and the right amount of energy to win the contest.
This years speeches were based off of the prompt: “At the heart of the liberal arts is civic engagement: How can we use the values of our liberal arts education to heal divides in our nation and world?”, and each speech was amazingly well written. Within the speeches of the seven contenders, mentioned family, personal problems, personal strengths, and even social change. Each member gave a personal story that enlightened and engaged the whole room. I do not think I have heard a louder crowd after each speech. The love, friendship, and support in that room was incredible. The feeling of warmth surrounded each person in that audience as well as the contestants. That is what makes Juniata special. We are all a family.
For the past four years, I have been a member of the digital media studio or DMS at Juniata. The digital media studio works for the marketing department of the college and takes over the livestream at the event. This involves camera set up, connecting sound, and making sure the livestream is connected for the full two hours. As I was abroad last Spring, three out of the four years I have worked with the livestream of the event, most times being a camera operator. This year, I had to help others younger than me learn to set up the cameras to film as I was up in the box helping the livestream crew. I have worked with livestream before in high school, so I understood the pressure that we were under to record the perfect video. Luckily enough, I was only put on checking audio after set up so I could enjoy each speech as it was given.
The hardest part of working the Bailey is trying to stay silent. As mentioned before, I had a simple job of sound check. This meaning I could listen to each and every word given by the contenders. It was so hard not to break out in applause for each speech. Instead, I gave a miniature golf clap to show my appreciation. I was so impressed with everything that occured this year. It just all fell into place, as perfectly as puzzle pieces. I always feel a smidge of happiness as Donna mentions the DMS team who helped record and livestream the event. It makes me feel like I have been involved with the whole set up.
The Bailey Oratorical is one of Juniata’s favorite treasures. I will miss working for it each year, just as I am going to miss Juniata. In two months, my life may change, but Juniata will always be my forever home.
If you would like to listen to these amazing speeches, visit this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZypa80UOhI
