Claflin University students participated in the South Carolina Speech and Theatre Association's Annual College Festival on Saturday, March 20. Colleges and universities from across the state competed in three categories: Theatre, Public Speaking, and Performance. While the festival is normally held in-person and hosted by a different member institution every two years, it pivoted to a virtual platform, which was hosted by the University of South Carolina - Lancaster. Teams from USC Lancaster, Lander University, Newberry, and Northeastern Technical College competed as well. Claflin’s team consisted of Camryn Brutus, Kambria Cook, Miracle Lee, Jevauni Malcolm, Ni’Ray Nelson, Isaiah Robinson, Bryson Scott and Terrence Weeks. The students competed and placed in the following categories:
Musical Theatre Audition
1st – Kambria Cook
2nd - Miracle Lee
3rd– Isaiah Robinson
Duet Acting
3rd- Isaiah Robinson & Bryson Scott
Impromptu Speaking
1st – Jevauni Malcolm
Adjudicated Audition Monologues
2nd - Camryn Brutus
3rd – Jevauni Malcolm
Storytelling
1st– Kambria Cook
2nd– Jevauni Malcolm
Poetry Interpretation
2nd- Ni'Ray Nelson
Persuasive Speaking
2nd– Jevauni Malcolm
Triathlon Award
1st– Jevauni Malcolm
Sweepstakes Award
1st- Claflin University
For the first time since its inception, SCSTA voted to replace trophies with cash awards for first, second, and third place, recognizing the greater benefit and need for college students. SCSTA was founded in 1958 with a mission to encourage a passion for excellence in speech and theatre education in South Carolina. Claflin has been a member of SCSTA and has been competing in the college festival since 2008. Claflin served as host to the college festival in 2016 and 2017.Assistant Professor of Speech and Theatre, Cedric Rembert, serves as College Division vice president, and Annette Dees Grevious, associate professor of speech and drama, serves as a member-at-large on its executive council. Both have served as president of the organization previously. Rembert and Grevious coached this year’s team to success, receiving the sweepstakes award for most points awarded to a given school based on the number of points each participant received for each event in which they competed divided by the number of participants on their school’s team. This year marks the fourth sweepstakes award received by Team Claflin.