On the evening of Jan. 28, the eighth annual Spencer Prize speech competition came to a close with its 2025 Grand Championship. Among an audience filled with friends, peers and former speakers, Ranyely Gil Rojas ’28 was declared the Grand Champion. Her speech centered around the beauty standards that she has faced as a black woman and her journey towards embracing herself.
“My hair has always told two stories: what it should have been, versus what was actually there. My mom would forcefully tug, as if she could contain the war that my hair was fighting, certain that the shackles of this inherited hatred were unbreakable,” Gil Rojas said in her speech.
This event — organized by the public speaking program Oratory Now — was both a culmination of the six finalists’ oratorical skills and a vibrant expression of the first year community.
Nominated by a Middlebury faculty or staff member in the fall, each first year speaker was tasked with writing a three-minute speech in response to the prompt: “Connect something you’ve discovered in a Middlebury class to something you care about. Can you get your audience to care too?”
Although the competition centered around a monetary prize, with each finalist receiving $100 and the winner receiving $500, the goal of the Spencer Prize competition is to connect passionate students to one another. In addition to recognizing students for their skill, Associate Director of Oratory Now Ben Powers aims for an event that celebrates student achievement and fosters a strong community.
“We spend a good bit of time figuring out how we could create something that would have the motivation and the drive with a competitive aspect, like help students to really do their best, and want to excel and have that community-oriented feel,” Powers said.
The event started with a social mixer, when speakers connected over their passions for speech. Many emphasized how meaningful it was to have built friendships with their peers encouraging them from the audience.
“Looking back, walking out from the dressing room and seeing a large portion of my teammates sitting there with a smile on their faces meant so much to me,” Reed Hyde ’28, a Spencer Prize finalist, wrote in an email to The Campus.
In Hyde’s speech, he spoke of his internal conflict of wanting to express authenticity while limited by social expectations, citing struggles with his baseball team and presenting a childhood doll to his acting course. He received overwhelming acceptance as a result of his vulnerability — an experience many Spencer Prize speakers had throughout the competition.
Annalise Houghton ’28 expressed a similar sentiment. To Houghton, the competition was about having the opportunity to share her passions with the support of a small community that encouraged everyone to do their best.
“It was originally a little daunting — I almost turned around when I saw the candlelit trail for the Social Mixer — but I felt so excited and supported throughout the entire process,” Houghton wrote in an email to The Campus.
Juan Salazar ’27 and Weronica Wonzy ’27, both finalists in 2024, served as executive co-producers this year, leading a team of 32 students in various roles. Each worked to fine-tune the event to make it as meaningful for speakers as when they competed last year.
“It's not a three-person job, it’s a whole team effort. So every single person on that production team, if I could highlight them with golden letters, with beautiful writing, I would, because every single person brought a lot to the table, from the MCs to the DJs to the people being set up, to the greeters — everybody brought something to the table,” Wonzy said.
In regards to the academic aspect of the Spencer Prize, speakers dug deep, managing to describe their diverse interests and passions in a three-minute speech. Finalist Lily Jensen ’28 said her routine walking route to the Knoll inspired the subject of her speech: how literature changes our perspective on the beauty of the world. Many others described the introspective nature of their unique creative processes.
“The process of writing the speech was very evocative — it forced me to think deeper about my learning here at Middlebury, and in that I saw the true value of the classes we take, namely in my case foreign language classes,” Steph Snyder ’28 wrote in an email to The Campus. She was a finalist who spoke about using her Italian classes to connect with her grandparents.
“I think it’s a beautiful celebration of the Middlebury community, of the legacy that it has in a very creative and informative way,” Wonzy said.
Rachelle Talbert '28 (she/her) is a Copy Editor.
Rachelle intends to major in English with minors in Art History and French. Last spring, she served as Chief Editor for a literary journal based in Salem, WI. In her free time, Rachelle enjoys painting, rock climbing and playing Stardew Valley.
