According to a Gallup survey, speaking in front of an audience is No. 2 among Americans' greatest fears.

Just below snakes.

But the most fearful part of Danny Takeuchi's experience with the Bradley University Summer Forensics Institute might have come before his arrival two weeks ago.

The 14-year-old traveled alone by airplane from his home in Boise, Idaho, to Peoria to attend the institute, a speech camp intended for high school students. Takeuchi won't begin high school for a few more weeks.

"I guess it's kind of a head start," Takeuchi said Friday at Bradley's Global Communications Center, the hub of the camp.

Takeuchi's itinerary took him from Boise to Denver to Chicago to Peoria. He gave Peoria a better grade than he did Austin, Texas, where he participated in a camp earlier this summer. That time, his mother accompanied him.

"It's certainly cooler than Texas, even if it's in the 100s still," Takeuchi said.

It wasn't quite that warm Friday, but it was a little toasty for dark suits and evening dresses. That's what most of the 100 campers wore as they prepared to present programs in small groups all over the Global Communications Center.

The camp culminates this weekend. More performances are scheduled Saturday in three genres of forensics - public address, in which students write, research and deliver their own speech; interpretation of other authors' works, including poetry; and limited preparation, an off-the-cuff talk that usually is about current events.

According to co-director Michael Chen, the institute isn't a competition. It's more a celebration of talent, albeit not an easy one.

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Bradley camp lets high school students improve forensic skills