The U.Va. Speaking Center returned this fall, offering its services to University students who want to improve their public speaking ability. Though the Center is independent of the University, students now have the ability to leverage its services alongside an array of other career and academic preparation tools, including the Writing Center.
Students can receive one-on-one speaking consultations, participate in workshops and attend speaker events for the Center to achieve its mission of assisting University students with their communication and oratorical skills. The Center is a free resource available to all undergraduate University students that was established in 2020 by Class of 2022 alumnus Chris Obolensky.
Third-year College student Jolina Dong reopened the Center last spring after discovering it was inactive following Obolensky’s graduation. While in search of public speaking resources to help with an audition during her second year, Dong discovered the Center, but it was only when she showed up for her appointment that she realized the Center had ceased its operations. Dong reached out to the only phone number on the website, and it took her to Obolensky.
“We spent a long time talking … He really inspired me,” Dong said. “Working with him made me realize how important this resource is at U.Va.”
Dong then brought together a student team of speaking consultants and two faculty advisors — Drama Lecturer Cady Garey and Mary Kate Cary, deputy chief of staff for communications and strategic initiatives for Interim President Paul Mahoney — to assist her. Dong also secured a $10,000 grant from the Jefferson Trust to ensure the resources are free for all students.
“I’m very big on collecting a diverse team of student consultants. We have student consultants from [different] majors and almost every school,” Dong said. “Public speaking comes in all forms, and people use it in different ways.”
Since the Center reopened last spring, students say they have found success with its newly re-established resources. Students are able to book 30-minute consultation sessions on the Center website with any of the 13-member team. Alongside the names of the consultants is a picture and short biography.
First-year College student Pauline Jeong said she wanted help with public speaking, and appreciated finding someone she identified with.
“I saw Jolina’s photo, and I clicked on her photo first because I could see that she was Asian, and I’m also Asian,” Jeong said. “I just wanted to kind of connect with an Asian person.”
Jeong said she decided to work with the Center after looking for University speaking resources to assist her in public speaking and articulating her thoughts, and that the meetings focused on meeting the student’s overall speaking goals and ways to achieve them.
“Jolina helped me figure out classes that were good, and I found a public speaking course that would also tie into my second writing course,” Jeong said. “[The session] more so helped me figure out what I wanted to work on and how I wanted to go about [improving at public speaking].”
Another function the Center performs is helping prepare students for presentations in their classes, though the consultants do not edit speaking assignments directly. Fourth-year Commerce student Sherry Wu decided to use this resource in preparation for a presentation in her management communication class.
Wu noted the practical and professional feedback provided by the Center, like making eye contact instead of scanning the room and speaking slower so the audience can follow her.
“I think public speaking is such an important skill not only for class assignments, but also for the [future],” Wu said. “I know a lot of students, including myself, feel very nervous about speaking in front of others, but the Speaking Center really helped me.”
In addition to one-on-one consultations, the Center offers workshops and held a general public speaking workshop with faculty presenters Oct. 1 with more than 60 attendees, according to Dong. The Center has also collaborated with the Writing Center on a workshop for interview and application preparation. University groups or clubs can also reach out to the Center to create individualized workshops to fit that organization’s needs.
“If anyone is having trouble with, or is just having a hard time with their speaking skills, I think [the Center] is a pretty good resource to just talk to someone about what you’re struggling with and see what the next steps could be to work towards that,” Jeong said.
Appointments at the Center are available now and can be made through the Center’s website.
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