The Umble Center was home to the annual C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest on Tuesday night, where seven Goshen students took the stage to tackle issues of peace and justice through speeches.
David Zwier took home the first place prize of $500 and a chance to compete at the U.S./Canada C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest, which is sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee.
Zwier, a sophomore business major from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, spoke about food waste in a speech entitled “Facing Food Waste: The Truth About What We Don’t Eat.” In his speech he addressed the vast amount of food we waste each year and how we can decrease that here at Goshen College and beyond.
Zwier said that at Goshen College alone we throw away 600 pounds of food per day, which adds up to 146,000 pounds of wasted food per year.
To fix this he recommended two simple measures to decrease personal food waste.
First, he noted that composting your excess food is better for the environment in that it keeps food out of landfills, which releases the harmful gas methane. Second, he urged audience members to think about how much food we serve ourselves, noting that if the food we wasted was given to those in need world hunger would be eradicated.
The second place winner was Kayla Hooley, who received a prize of $250. Hooley, a sophomore from Peoria, Ariz, spoke on the topic of body image, citing the media’s influence as the primary reason for low self-esteem in the U.S.
“You must be the one to decide what is beautiful and right,” she advised audience members, noting that eight out of ten women in the U.S. are unhappy with their bodies.
Other participants were Chagan Sanathu, a sophomore communication and business double major, Erin Helmuth, a first-year mathematics major, Rachel Halder, a senior communication major, Jair Hernandez, a first-year computer science and communication double major and Matt Nafziger, a first-year accounting major.
