Cadet wins humorous speaking contest

Update 28 September: Cadet Josh Hester finished second out of a class of eight area winners in the Sept. 26 Toastmasters Area 12 Competition for Humorous Speaking at MUSC. He will serve as an alternate from the Lowcountry at the next level should the winner not compete.

Cadet Josh Hester practices his speech for the regional Toastmasters competition.

India Company Cadet Josh Hester of Melbourne, Fla., recently won the Toastmasters Area 12 Competition for Humorous Speaking with his new twist on 21st century dating. Hester will advance to the regional competition Saturday which is being held at the Medical University of South Carolina.

With social networks that grow each day, Hester offered new rules to dating that he discovered himself through trial and error. “Messaging all the pretty girls you can find in College of Charleston’s freshman class is not the way to get a date,” he said.

Hester joined the Toastmasters group last year and quickly realized that humorous speaking was his strong point. Since then, his interest has grown and so has his confidence.

“I’ve always enjoyed public speaking, and I’ve gotten a lot of positive reinforcement from the group here at The Citadel and also from the competitions I’ve been a part of. I’m very comfortable in front of an audience,” Hester said.

The Citadel chapter of Toastmasters, International, El Cid Toastdawgs, is an extension of The Citadel’s Oral Communications Lab, a center for the improvement of communication and public speaking that was established through a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dale Smith, Class of 1947.