Three members of the Speech and Debate team will represent the university in national tournaments.
Jamison Keefover, mass communications senior; Tyler Patton, mass communications junior, and Blayne Childers, acting sophomore, qualified for national tournaments. Dates for the tournaments have not yet been announced.
The team swept the Oklahoma Interstate Forensics Association competition Feb. 23-24, winning first place in Tournament and State Sweepstakes.
Keefover won first in persuasive speaking, qualifying her to move to the National Interstate Oratorical Association Tournament in April where she will compete in the same category.
Dr. Joshua Young, director of forensics, started his position at the beginning of the semester and leads the team in the tournaments.
“Josh Young came in January and went right in,” Keefover said. “We went from not showing up to practices to winning first place. That’s incredible.”
Rick Ong and Patricia Ashford, philosophy and political science freshmen, competed in national parliamentary debate and made it to the semifinals. Ashford won fourth place speaker, and Ong won first place in the OIFA state champion speaker award.
Patton earned first place in communication analysis, Childers earned first place in prose, and Megan Poole, acting freshman, won first in program of oral interpretation. Patton also won OIFA combined pentathalon champion for five events and debate.
The Speech and Debate team also competed at the District 3 tournament of the American Forensics Association on March 3.
Childers and Patton qualified for the National AFA tournament. Patton and Keefover were named national alternates for their events.
The team also participated in the International Forensics Association tournament March 12-13 in Montreal. The participants were Patton, Childers, Keefover, Joey Simpson, religion senior, and Samuel Pierce Gordon, political science and philosophy senior.
The team took fifth overall. Keefover placed in international public debate, persuasive, impromptu and extemperaneous speaking. Childers, Patton, Simpson, and Keefover placed in several other events including prose and a nuance Canadian sketch comedy event.
Keefover placed with a 10-minute speech about the rise in urban development causing problems in low economic areas and a loss of cultural identity, such as with Native Americans.
“People come to areas and push out what isn’t necessarily the ‘trend’ right now,” she said. “It’s fine if you enjoy that kind of stuff, but it’s at the risk of ruining someone else’s livelihood, and that’s not good.”
Keefover said she offers ways to do urban planning responsibly.
“I offer sustainable development, so you can keep everyone happy, while not getting rid of culture or keeping up with trends,” she said.
The Speech and Debate team meets three times a week to compete in practice events. Since debate topics are assigned during the actual competition, preparation for events includes researching a wide variety of topics, ranging from politics to Olympic international cooperation.
Ashford said she found it difficult to make an argument about limiting gun control, since she thinks guns should be banned.
“It’s really hard because you want to win,” she said. “You need to forget your opinions. However, it’s fun, since it’s like becoming another person.”
Ashford said the key to a good debate team is communication.
“What makes a good debate team is like what makes a good friendship,” she said. “You need to be honest and open, and you need to be up on current events.”
Proofreader Tyler Patton is a member of the Speech and Debate team. He did not participate in the writing of this story.
Leave a Reply