On Tuesday, April 21, the IAA hosted its first Impromptu in the Garden, an event that celebrated the University of Maryland’s Fearless Ideas theme and our fearless students taking INAG 110: Oral Communication. Fearlessness is nothing new for IAA faculty and students. As we like to say in IAA, “We take the fear out of public speaking.” So it was no surprise that the event sponsored by Colonial Farm Credit yielded a dozen contestants.
IAA Lecturer, Tony Pagnotti emceed and organized the event while JoEllen Barnhart was the DJ musicologist. Her uncanny musical collection mixed acid trip, R&B, elevator music, rap, and world music, creating a treat for our eardrums. IAA program advisors Roy Walls, Ken Ingram and Meredith Epstein, as usual, were the invisible hands ensuring that the plants, garden and technology were ready to roll. The IAA Teaching Garden showcased the spring plantings of Epstein and her students and demonstrated once again the relationship between public speaking and agriculture.
Participants Shira Mousas and Marcus Maxwell kicked off the competition with a hilarious 2-minute banter about being stuck in an elevator. Mousas’ spontaneity, nonverbal gestures, and vocalics earned her the top prize. The other top talker, Gabe Hernandez, was recognized for his incredibly fluid half-empty/half-full speech. The winning dyad went to Mickey Brock and Eden Watterson. Brock’s enigmatic speech dissuading his daughter from dropping out of school rather than searching for her inner zen in a lotus pose under a tree. All of the participants displayed a fearless attitude toward public speaking, making their IAA oral communication instructors proud and making the judges’ job difficult. As difficult as the decision was, Colonial Farm Credit President Greg Farmer who served as a judge, said, “I’d much rather be a judge than stand up there and give an impromptu speech.”
IAA Director Glori Hyman and Turfgrass Advisor Kevin Mathias, who also served as judges, agreed that that it was a remarkable pool of speakers. “I was so impressed by the students—they hardly used any vocal fillers,” commented Hyman. “I heard very few ums, ahs, or ehs. And, it’s hard not to say um when you’re speaking off the cuff.”
The winners received gift cards to Chipotle, courtesy of Colonial Farm Credit.
The inaugural Impromptu in the Garden was made possible by the hard work of the IAA’s team of oral communication instructors: JoEllen Barnhart, Eric Dunning, Amy Fisher, Nina LaTassa, Michelle Molinaro, Tony Pagnotti, Gerald Powell, and Ed Priola, and our gracious sponsor Colonial Farm Credit.
