Senior Orations and the Senior Colloquium

Past Winners and Events

For full videos of the following events, please click: Founder’s Day Convocation and Commencement.

Did you present an oration at a past Colloquium event and don’t see it here? A project to collect past orations is underway – check back. Have a past oration to submit? Contact us and let us know!

In their book, Milestones – Defining Lists of Wake Forest Debate 1835-2022, Allen Louden and Jarrod Atchison describe, in detail, the history of Debate and Oration at Wake.

“Over a century and half, four primary settings dominated this influential Wake public voice. Faculty-required Senior Orations initially dominated, followed closely and often in tandem with Commencement Senior Orators. For multiple decades, before hosting responsibilities became too burdensome, public oratory was under the full purview of the literary societies.” “These special occasions were the featured intellectual and social events of the fall and spring season, inviting alumni and the State’s elite (as well as women from Meredith and Oxford) to the campus for oratories, debates, and celebration.”  If you would like to read more, including the full historical list of Orators and their speeches, the book is available from Library Partners Press, and can be seen in ZSR here.