David Nypaver sits down at his desk. He thinks for a moment, then starts to formulate ideas for an upcoming speech. As he writes, he must work to capture the air of another person entirely. In fact, he must capture the air of one person in particular: the president of the University of Akron.

Nypaver writes speeches for the aforementioned president for a living. An alumnus of the very university at which he works, Nypaver assists President Scott Scarborough with his speeches, correspondences, and emails. He helps the president keep up to date with current events in Ohio as well. Nypaver currently writes strictly for Scarborough, though he occasionally assists other senior administrators at the University of Akron. He spoke on how he reached his current career, explaining that he began as a reporter and eventually moved on to work for an advertising agency and a marketing agency.

“I really kind of just fell into [speech writing]. . . . From the advertising agency I came to the University and I was a public relations representative, but because I had some experience with writing in a lot of different styles I ended up working a little bit on the advertising side and a little bit on the public relations side. There was a gentleman here before me who did a lot of the assisting of the president with speech writing. He retired, and [the university was] looking for somebody in-house to do [his job who] had some experience. That is how I got into [my current job],” Nypaver said.

Chief Communications Officer Wayne Hill has known Nypaver since 2011 and has also written speeches. He explained what he finds difficult about the job.

“One of the challenges for any speech writer is to capture the voice of the individual that you are writing for so that [person] is able to be genuine and authentic in terms of how that person would speak and write and that is something that you would learn over time. . . . Being able to get the voice of the person for whom you are writing is always a challenge, [but Nypaver] does a very nice job of it,” Hill said.

Media Relations Director Dan Minnich works with Nypaver on occasion at the University of Akron. They work together on major events at the university or when an event involves the president, and they keep each other updated on the information that has to do with their collaborations. Minnich explained the challenges they find when trying to keep each other updated.
“When it comes to a big event we are kind of spread out, and [the university has] a big campus. . . . It is more difficult to keep up with each other on a daily basis, but we [are able to talk]. I think we do a good job of it. We make sure that we are in touch, and that we can answer each other’s questions,” Minnich said.

Nypaver sees the most difficult part of his job as the necessity to grow a thick skin, specifically when it comes to any edits a person may make to one’s work.

“You always have to get used to the idea that ‘if it [isn’t] your speech, it [isn’t] your speech,’ by which I mean you have to remember they are the ones standing at the podium. . . . You write something and look back and say ‘that is just great, that sounds just right,’ but then the person you are writing it for says no and starts editing and changing [the speech], . . . [but] you learn to live with it,” Nypaver said.

Though speech writing has its challenges, Nypaver finds his job interesting. He enjoys writing the most, and he also enjoys working with a variety of people, upon which he elaborated.

“My job is to help [people] put together their thoughts. You find out that you act like a sounding board. You just have to listen. Really, it is amazing. People are so creative. People come up with such great ideas,” Nypaver said.

As Nypaver puts together the end of the speech, he takes one more look over his work. He lets out a sigh of content and lets himself relax for a moment; he then leans back in his chair and smiles. He feels proud of the speech he has written and looks forward to hearing Scarborough give it in the near future.