March 13, 2025

SVSU competitive speakers stand out

Team three-peats third place finish at state championship

For the third consecutive year, Saginaw Valley State University students placed third at the Michigan Intercollegiate Speech League State Championship Tournament, which took place on Saturday, March 1, at Eastern Michigan University.
Individual results are as follows: 
•    Emily Drzewicki, a communication major from Bay City, placed fifth and was named top novice in persuasion, placed seventh in rhetorical criticism.
•    Leilani Lanz, elementary education major from Tampa, placed sixth in dramatic interpretation.
•    Rylee Pickoff, an elementary education major from Macomb, placed sixth in after dinner speaking.
•    Cody Power, a criminal justice major from New Baltimore, was named top novice in after dinner speaking.
•    McKenzie Shagena, a political science major from Port Huron, was named top novice in extemporaneous speaking.
•    Nimnan Wuyep, a communication and international studies major from Jos, Nigeria, placed second in five categories: dramatic interpretation, prose interpretation, impromptu speaking, persuasion and individual sweepstakes. In the persuasion category, he was in a two-way tie for first place, which was broken by judges' preference. He also placed seventh in extemporaneous speaking.
Wuyep and Drzewicki will represent Michigan in the Interstate Oratory Competition, which will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27, at Tennessee State University. This is the first time both Michigan representatives are SVSU students.
Other members of SVSU’s competitive speech team are:
•    Riley Romer, an international studies and Spanish major from Macomb.
•    Nicole Yapp, an elementary education major from Wixom.
•    Xsandrie Guimba, an exercise science major from Metro Manila, Philippines.
•    Hannah Schalk, an elementary education major from Reese.
•    Maia Clynick, a psychology major from Freeland.