Speech State Champion

Speech State Champion By Greg Mayer ‘21

I was born into an incredibly artistic family in the middle of St. Philip. I am the youngest of 8 kids. Every single one of my siblings participated in some sort of artistic activity, so naturally, I had very large shoes to fill. My speech journey truly began whenever I decided to join the speech team at St. Philip. After I won the Junior High City Speech Tournament, I knew I needed to pursue Speech in high school.

In my freshman year of high school, I found myself participating aimlessly in multiple categories. However, through the encouragement of my former coach, Dave Nagel, I chose to pursue Original Oratory and Broadcasting. Out of these two categories, Original Oratory will always hold a special place in my heart. This category allows for a student to write about whatever issue they desire, and it allows the student to express their thoughts. Participating in this category helped me to develop my own opinions and to develop my ability to write. The strengthening of this part of my life has helped me become my own person and to have the courage to express that. Speech developed my character and because of the hours I spent working on my piece I have learned the necessity of discipline and hard work. This lesson is what made me feel comfortable with pulling all nighters, writing and rewriting the same speech over and over again. Discipline is what helped me get through being beat by other competitors.

Discipline is what allowed me to overcome the naysayers and become a 2x NSDA National qualifier and IHSFA State Champion. Naturally, none of this would have been possible without the assistance of countless people. I owe my success to the support of my coaches, Noah Harrison and Isaac Memmer, my friend Nathan Seiler, and my biggest fan, my mother. Whenever I wanted to quit my senior year, these incredible and uplifting people, pushed me to keep going. If it wasn’t for their support, the Mater Dei community would have no one to represent the red and gold in Speech on a State and National level.

I owe my success not only to speech but to those who supported me during my speech career. These same people have encouraged me to pursue nursing at Purdue University and to help spread the activity that is Speech and Debate throughout the Evansville community. I thank Mater Dei Speech for everything that it has done for me. Go cats!

YOU BELONG HERE.

MATERDEIWILDCATS.COM