Professor Gina Costa and speech competition winner Han Eul Yoo.
PARAMUS, N.J. – Bergen Community College student Han Eul (Robin) Yoo has won the president’s award for best speaker at the institution’s 11th annual speech competition. With his girlfriend’s celiac disease serving as the inspiration for his topic, Yoo, of Mahwah, discussed the symptoms of condition and offered guidance on how to manage a healthy and social lifestyle. Competing against 34 students for $2,500 in awards sponsored by Academic Vice President William Mullaney, Ph.D., Yoo, a first-generation Asian-American college student, accepted his award during an April 25 ceremony.
The five finalists and their speech topics were:
- First Place: Han Eul Yoo, of Mahwah: “Eating around Celiac Disease;”
- Second Place: Brittany Troisi, of Fairview: “Why You Should Vaccinate;”
- Third Place: Amanda Kurland, of Oakland: “Why We Need Mental Health Awareness;”
- Fourth Place: Lindsey Njanja, of Lodi: “A Brief Summary of the Science behind the Attack of the HIV Virus;” and
- Fifth Place: Ignacio Leon, of Rutherford: “Transcendental Meditation: A Different Alternative for the Stressed Student.”
The College’s annual speech competition offers students from all academic disciplines the opportunity to develop leadership skills and communication competencies in informative and persuasive speaking.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 14,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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