You could call Denim Morrison a Renaissance man. The Denmark Tech student is interested not only in the natural sciences – chemistry, physics, astronomy – but also in music, political science, communications, and public speaking. As an Oratorical Society member, Denim recently competed in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate category at the SC Speech and Theatre Association Festival Competition, where he placed first and was awarded a scholarship to participate in Newberry College’s Speech and Debate program this fall.

Before we really dig into your public speaking accomplishment, tell us why you chose to go to a technical college.

My grades were decent in high school, but they weren’t on par with what I wanted. I felt like technical college would help me learn better principles about how to raise my grades. A technical college also provides a great blueprint so that you can be successful at a four-year university.

My brother – he’s six years older than me – also had an impact on my decision to go to technical college. He attended SC State University, and his experience was sort of like a roadmap for me. It showed me what to do – and what I might not want to do – in college.

You quickly found your place at Denmark Tech as a member of the Oratorical Society. And you really got to shine at the recent Festival Competition!

I never had much practice with debating – maybe a little bit in middle school. But it came very naturally to me, and my teachers and coaches Mr. Kenzie and Ms. McAlister said that I was good at it and should give it a try. The topic was term limits. I did a lot of research because I had to prepare to argue both the affirmative and negative side. I always want to get the best out of what I do and achieve the highest level of results that I can, so I was proud of winning that competition.

In this case, debating came naturally to you, but was it effortless?

I had some challenges.

When I first started public speaking, I didn’t expect to give speeches as frequently as I did. I thought I’d give 20-minute speeches occasionally. But we had to deliver 3-4-minute speeches during each and every class. That was a good experience for me because I had to adjust to the time limits and select only the most important information to share.

I can also be very indecisive sometimes; it can be hard for me to make choices between certain things. And sometimes I move too fast, like when I was preparing to participate in the Persuasive Speech category. It’s like I clogged my mind up with so many things in order to get a lot of evidence to support my argument. I would read books, then I would do research, then I would read books again, then I would stop in the middle of reading to do more research instead of doing one thing at a time. My mind has a tendency to be all over the place because I’m interested in so many different things. I collect lots of good information, but it can be sloppy sometimes.

How do you deal with that? You don’t want to stifle your natural curiosity, but you also need to make sure the information you collect is useful.

Discipline helps with that. I believe that your passion will grow your practice. The more you love what you’re doing, the more you’ll want to practice it. And the more you practice it, the better you’ll be at it.

In my case with the Oratorical Society, I practiced speaking in lots of different categories: persuasive speeches, interpretation, poetry. I also rehearsed my speeches ahead of time. I wrote them out and said them over and over again. Sometimes I would record myself, then listen to the recording repeatedly before I went to bed so that I knew how to mold the information properly and where to revise my delivery. That kind of discipline gave me the confidence to speak well. But the same can be true for others in their fields, whether they’re a nurse, a chef, or a barber.

Do you have a favorite speech or topic to speak on?

I really enjoyed giving a speech on neuroscience about brain capacity. I liked being able to help the audience know more about their brain and how they can apply certain scientific inquiries in their everyday lives to utilize more of their brain capacity. That was fascinating to me!