Sometimes, doing something on a whim can pay off.
Matt Rutter, 23, of Pleasant Grove, decided to enter a speech contest just a few weeks before it took place, and on June 1, he won first prize.This wasn't your everyday contest. It was the "25th Annual Korean Language Speech Contest for Foreign Nationals in Seoul," and the speech had to be in Korean.
"I was a little frightened at first, but things went more smoothly after I started," said Rutter, who was in Korea for a two-month study program through Brigham Young University.
Things went so smoothly that the approximately eight-minute-long speech was declared "miraculous" by Han Kapsoo, one of the contest judges.
In an article in the English language Korean news magazine, "News Review," Han said Rutter had almost perfect pronunciation.
There were 17 other contestants, and Rutter said each gave his speech only once. "There were no eliminations," he said. To win, he had to do it right the first time.
Many of the other contestants started out with jokes, Rutter said. "But, I started dramatically instead, and I think that kept their attention.
"I knew it is a pretty presitigious contest because of the news coverage it got," Rutter said. "For a week after I won, I would ride the subway and people would look at me and say, `There's the kid who one the prize.' "
Scott Burnett, a BYU professor of Korean studies who was with Rutter in Korea, said the contest is very competitive.
"There was only one other American and the rest of the contestants were from Oriental countries," he said. There was a world of difference between Matt and the next contestant.
Burnett said Rutter has an uncanny ability to sound like a Korean.
"I was very proud of him and I think it really helps BYU's reputation as a good school," he said.
Because he won, Rutter also had the opportunity to be on a television program called "Kajong Chonul," which is Korea's version of the "Today" show or "Good Morning, America."
"I was in the `Invitation Seat,' or what would be a special guest," he said.
Rutter said they asked him why he was in Korea, where he had learned Korean, and about the speech he had given, which was about traditional Korean family values.
"The family is the center of Korean society," he said. And, with Korea's economic explosion, the onset of the information revolution and new-found prosperity, Koreans have lost a lot of these traditions.
When asked what advice he would give to Koreans as a foreigner, he told them to return to these traditions and the strength that comes from the family.
Rutter was asked to give the speech again at a commemoration of the Korean War.
"There were a lot of dignitaries," Rutter said. They were impressed with the insights in his speech and gave him a 5-foot tall Korean painting in appreciation of his participation.
Rutter first entered the contest in 1987 when he was an LDS missionary in Korea.