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Xavier Daniels |
Just call
him the Renaissance Man.
Xavier
Daniels excelled at sports in high school, is an accomplished musician, studies
theatre in hopes of finding work as an actor, and is planning on attending
medical school en route to becoming a physician. Now, just weeks after stepping
into the arena, the Grossmont College student already is turning heads as a
member of the school’s Speech and Debate team.
“I had
no idea what it was, but it looked interesting to me, so I figured, why not?”
said Daniels, 21. “I believe people shouldn’t be afraid to explore all their
options, follow their passion, and see how things work out, and I felt speech
and debate could help me not only with acting, but with my oral communication
skills.”
So far,
so good. In his third competition this fall, Daniels notched a picket
fence – or ranked 1st by all judges in the room – during the
preliminary rounds of a tournament at Pasadena Community College for his
performance during an impromptu speech.
Though
he faltered in the final round, he left many competitors in awe.
“Xavier already has become a core member of the
advanced team,” said Speech and Debate Team director Roxanne Tuscany, who also
teaches small group communication and public speaking at Grossmont College. “He has done this not
just by success in winning events, but more by being an active member. He
has already performed in a readers theatre for the English Department’s Banned
books presentation,
he has a dramatic duo selection, a prose selection and impromptu as events for
the team. For a first semester team member this is a lot of dedication,
and success.”