FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: November 19, 2002

Contact: Donna McCracken, 206-6716

UIS Forensics Team among winners at three-day tournament

SPRINGFIELD – Members of the Forensics (Speech and Debate) Team at the University of Illinois at Springfield brought home several awards from a three-day tournament held November 15-17 at Washington University in St. Louis. UIS was one of 10 universities and colleges competing at the tournament. This is the second year that UIS has fielded a forensics team.

A group of six Capital Scholars represented the UIS team. In their first competition in prose interpretation, Alisabeth Manzoeillo and Nicole Overcash took fifth and sixth place, respectively. Gabrielle Wiegand and Saira Malik, first-time competitors in the duo improvisation category, took third place. And, although they did not advance to quarterfinals, in their first competition in open division parliamentary debate novices Nick Roman and Nels Dale tied with three other teams. Roman and Dale would have been the next team to continue to elimination rounds.

Sue Weber, director of UIS’ forensics program, was enthusiastic about the team’s accomplishments. “We are still a new and inexperienced team,” she noted. “It is amazing that these students would do so well when competing against successful and long-established teams.”

Members of UIS’ forensics team can compete in a variety of events grouped into three broad areas – oral interpretation of literature, public speaking, and parliamentary debate. Individual events include Dramatic Duo Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Poetry Interpretation, Prose Interpretation, Program Oral Interpretation, Impromptu Speaking,

-more-

Extemporaneous Speaking, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, After-Dinner Speaking, Communication Analysis, and Parliamentary Debate.

For more information about the Forensic/Speech and Debate program at UIS, contact Weber by phone at (217) 206-6087 or by e-mail at weber.sue@uis.edu, or visit the team website at www.uis.edu/forensics.

-30-