Prairie State College Speech Team Wins Gold in National Competition

Members of the Prairie State College speech team that won the gold medal in the small school team sweepstakes in individual events were (from left) Patrick Sheard, Allysha Nobles, Dan Blewitt, Kelly Crescenzo and Colin Gallagher.

The Prairie State College Speech Team made history this month during the 2015 Phi Rho Pi National Speech Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.

Team members Allysha Nobles of Park Forest, Patrick Sheard of Dolton, Dan Blewitt of Crete, Colin Gallagher of Homewood and Kelly Crescenzo of Steger were named national champions, winning a gold medal in the small school team sweepstakes in individual events. This marks only the second time in the program’s 15-year history at the national tournament that PSC won this prestigious award.

In addition to the team’s success, Nobles, the national team’s only member from last year’s team, brought home a gold medal in prose interpretation. Out of 115 students from 56 schools across the country, she earned a “first place” from 8 of her 9 judges in the preliminary, semi-final and final rounds. She also advanced to the national semi-finals in dramatic interpretation, earning a bronze medal.

Freshman Sheard also advanced to the national final round of prose interpretation, winning a silver medal in the event. He also advanced to the national semi-final round in informative speaking, and won a bronze medal. Their teammate, first year competitor Crescenzo, advanced to the national final round in prose interpretation, and won a silver medal.

Nobles, Sheard and Crescenzo represented half of the 6 Illinois representatives in the final round of prose interpretation.

Additionally, Crescenzo earned a spot in the national semi-final round in persuasive speaking, finishing with a bronze medal. And, first-year competitor Gallagher won a spot in the national semi-final round of persuasive speaking, adding another bronze medal to the team’s seven individual awards.

Freshman Blewitt said, “Our team’s success is due mostly to the fact that, aside from all the trophies and accolades we earned this season, everyone was more than willing to be a friend, mentor and supporter to each other beyond the speech team.

“That’s so important when building a family-oriented program like ours. We all pull for each other to be successful in speech competition and beyond.”

The PSC speech team is coached by PSC Professors Josh Green, Dave Naze, Ed Schwarz and Elighie Wilson.