On Wednesday, April 11, during Civic Engagement Day in Yoder Hall, six Bluffton students participated in the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest. Participants ranged from a first-year student to seniors who are graduating in less than a month.
The contest began in 1905, when Bluffton held its first oratorical contest. It was not until 1975 that the contest became the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest.
Smith was a faculty member between 1914 and 1946 and wrote several books on the Mennonite history with special attention paid to the peace commitment of the Mennonite traditions.
The winner at Bluffton University also receives $175, while second place receives $125 and third place receives $100.
The first place winner was Irena Xhari, with her speech, “Restorative Justice and Sexual Violence.” Second place winner was Joel Jacobson, with his speech titled, “Truth, Peace, and Media Literacy.” The third place winner was Katey Ebaugh, with her speech titled, “Our Neighbors Have No Home.” Floid Krajcovic and Jared Hurst also presented speeches for the competition.
Senior Irena Xhari. Photo by Nicole Centofanti.
Xhari is from Lezha, Albania. Xhari is a Hesston (Kan.) College transfer who is in her last year at Bluffton.
This was not Xhari’s first speech, but it was her first time doing the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest.
Xhari said she wasn’t nervous to give the speech in front of a large group of people. Rather, the source of her nervousness was her desire to present her information well because she is very passionate about the subject.
Xhari said that in preparation for the speech she enrolled in a half-credit hour for Forensics. She met with Professor of Communication Dr. Gerald Mast once a week to find resources and discuss the topic and practice delivering the speech. Xhari explained that the speeches were supposed to be prepared by spring break, but that was not the case for hers.
“I was supposed to get the speech done before spring break,” said Xhari. “However, I took a very long time doing research on the cases of Larry Nassar and John Howard Yoder. So, it took me a while, and I finished the speech Tuesday night.”
Although she finished writing the speech Tuesday night, Xhari knew her material. She was careful to make sure she presented her research in a way that made sense for her audience. She practiced with Mast Wednesday morning and delivered her speech Wednesday night.
Xhari said she did not believe that she was going to win, so that did not make her nervous. She just wanted to do her best and was confident that she could give a good speech because she had a lot of really good information.
“I think this contest was about finding a topic that relates to the church and what can we do to solve a problem in the church,” said Xhari. “I think maybe it was a topic that was sensitive and relevant, and not many people in the Mennonite church have [written] a speech about John Howard Yoder and what he did.”
“I think everything I put up there was very upfront and it’s not something that I think a lot of Mennonites who have grown up in the Mennonite church would be comfortable talking about it.”
Xhari also explained she was very passionate about the topic. Growing up, she was constantly worried about what she was wearing because she felt responsible to stop the catcalling in the streets. Xhari said that where she grew up, sexual harassment is a norm and it was something women would just live with.
Xhari’s speech will compete against collegiate-level winners from other Mennonite institutions in the bi-national competition sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee.
Floid Krajcovic and Jared Hurst also participated in the competition.
