This past year has been a time of growth and expansion for the Speech and Debate Team! The team continued to compete exclusively in 9 online tournaments. In April, they were able to perform in front of a live audience at the Speech and Debate Showcase, where they received feedback from judges to help them improve in the future.

This year’s team consisted almost entirely of novice competitors who were experiencing speech tournaments for the first time. Fiel Wilson was our only varsity competitor and was an invaluable member of the debate team, contributing so much expert advice and feedback that he essentially served as an assistant coach for the team.

Some of the team’s accomplishments include:

• Doubled the number of tournaments attended from 4 to 9

• 3 international student team members, representing Nigeria, Jamaica and Thailand

• Expanded the team membership to include two online students, thus providing a unique opportunity for online students to participate in an extracurricular student activity

• Added a debate team for the first time in several years, with up to 6 members meeting several times a semester to practice and learn about the International Public Debate Association (IPDA) limited-prep debate format

• 7 students participated in tournaments:
  • Desh Adesyian – Impromptu
  • Amanda Brown – Informative
  • Braden Nuttall – Informative, Persuasive
  • Cameron Current – Extemporaneous, Impromptu
  • Alex Rhodes – Impromptu, Persuasive
  • Stephenie Schultz – Poetry, Informative
  • Fiel Wilson – IPDA Debate, Poetry

• Awarded five scholarships for 2025-2026 to the following students:
  • Cameron Current
  • Braden Nuttall
  • Chloe Pease
  • Alex Rhodes
  • Fiel Wilson

Dr. Gordon looks forward to working with many of our team members again in 2025-2026 as they continue to use judges’ feedback to refine and improve their competitive speaking skills!