It was the sparkle of a glittery purple pair of flats that brought the Diablo Valley College speech team’s most dynamic, award-winning tandem together.
Feeling shy and isolated at her first speech and debate tournament in the fall of 2009, Natalie Meany struck conversation with Lelah Smick by complimenting her flashy shoes.
Now inseparable best friends and in their final semester at DVC, Smick and Meany are nationally ranked speakers and have collectively won 37 awards during their year and a half tenure on the DVC Speech Team.
This April, the standout pair will compete in the American Forensics Associations’ national tournament in Kearny, Neb.
“Junior colleges never go to AFAs, and for us to get this far we had to work so hard,”
Meany said. “I’ve spent so many hours working towards this. No one from DVC has ever gone. This is insane.”
They will join the country’s top speech competitors, mainly from four-year universities, and will perform their nationally qualifying interpretation speech.
Interpretation speeches persuade and evoke emotion from the audience through the presentation of works of drama, pieces of literature or poetry.
In order for a speech to make it to nationals, the speech must win three awards, or legs, when presented at previous tournaments.
As Meany and Smick aim to win their third leg for their duo interpretation of “Lost” by Mary Louise Walstead, they note the reason for the success of the piece is that it is about two best friends that are very similar to them.
Often called “the wifeys” by coaches and fellow teammates, Meany and Smick describe their inseparable friendship as “two puzzles pieces that fit perfectly together.”
“Together they bring out the best in each other,” speech team coach John Hanecak said.
Both have found a love for the art of communication and forensics, or using data to persuade. However, neither anticipated that the DVC speech team would have influenced their life in the way that it has.
Horrified at the idea of public speaking in Elizabeth Simas’ spring 2009 Speech 120 class, Smick was determined to prove to herself that she could face her fear and have relative success.
At the end of the semester, Simas suggested joining the team. Skeptical at first, Smick decided to join the team the following semester.
Smick made a rare accomplishment by winning an award at the Santa Rosa Junior College Tournament, her first competition. She then decided to compete in the next tournament at DVC, where she met Natalie Meany.
Meany’s path to the team was different. It started in her Speech 120 class with John Hanecak, who told his students they would receive 80 points of extra credit for joining the team.
Unlike Smick, Meany was not afraid of public speaking and had done musical theater for years.
Three semesters later, Meany emerges as one of the team leaders, with 24 awards for her events and plans to study communications while apart of DVC’s speech pathology program.
“Natalie has one of the most exemplary levels of energy and passion of any student
I have taught at DVC in 23 years,” Hanecak said. “Like Lelah, the two of them are willing to take risks in their education and develop themselves.”
In May, she will graduate with DVC’s new associate’s degree in speech pathology. While both plan to transfer to four-year universities, Smick plans to major in elementary education.
“I am very thankful the speech team has given me such a big part of my life,” Meany said. Smick followed with, “Me too.”
