CBA student bags gold in oratorical contest
Claudine Sebayang, a first-year student of the Silliman University (SU) College of Business Administration from Indonesia, won the gold medal in the 2021 McIntire Oratorical Contest organized by the Office of the Adviser to the International Students, March 1, 2021.
Claudine Sebayang, gold medalist at the 2021 McIntire Oratorical Contest
The virtual contest is a revival of the 1913 public speaking event which was established as a tribute to two pioneers in Silliman History: English Language mentor Dr. Walter McIntire, and his wife Theater director Rebecca Berry-McIntire who served SU from 1902 to 1911.
The contest was organized in celebration of the 100th founding anniversary of Oriental Hall, the “home” of student affairs.
Chairperson of the Board of Judges, Dr. Albert Salamanca, shared his appreciation of the gold medalist: “…Her ability to emphasize words and ideas at the right time is admirable. Her speech on the ASEAN cooperation is the longest though but not too long to be boring.”
Other winners in the 2021 McIntire are: Sun Reong, School of Public Affairs and Governance student from Korea as the silver medalist, and Joshua Gene Solis, Filipino-American student from College of Computer Studies as the bronze medalist.
Sun Reong, silver medalist at the 2021 McIntire Oratorical Contest
Joshua Gene Solis, bronze medalist at the 2021 McIntire Oratorical Contest
The quality of English language education in SU was earlier attributed to Dr. McIntire as he was considered as the one with the best linguistic ability among the faculty. He founded excellent programs for culture and arts development in SU.
Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard, the first SU president who served from 1901 to 1930, listed the champions of the McIntire Oratorical Contest, the first being Mateo Occeña in 1913 who later became the Secretary-General of the Presbyterian Mission; followed by Evelio Javier in 1914; Guillermo Magdamo, 1915; Juan Alcazaren, 1916; Vicente Sinco, 1917; Ignacio Debuque, 1918; Gregorio Imperial, 1919; Gerardo Florendo, 1920; Gerardo Armonio, 1921; Angel Espina, 1922; Lamberto Macias, 1923; Ramon Ponce de Leon, 1924; Rosauro Gomez, 1925; and Jesus Perpiñan, 1926.
(Report by Moses Joshua B. Atega, International Students Adviser. Photos from the Office of the Adviser to the International Students.)
