Debate Year in Review 2019

by   |  04.25.19  |  Student Awards

Contributed by: Sheila Ritchie, Director of Forensics & Debate

As the year comes to an end, I wanted to update you on the activities of the ACU Speech and Debate Team. Our team has had a phenomenal year of growth and success. They are a young team but they have performed in a way that should make ACU proud.
A few highlights of the year:
  • We attended 10 tournaments throughout Louisiana, Arkansas, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia. The competition included LSU, SMU, Cornell, Rutgers, George Washington, Georgetown, Idaho State, TCU and many others. We earned at least one award at every single tournament we attended.
  • Our Novice Squad ranked 11th out of 92 teams in the Nation for IPDA Debate.
  • We had students who advanced to either Octofinals, Quarterfinals, and Semi-finals in Debate at each tournament.
  • We had two students who advanced to finals in Extemporaneous Speaking in addition to their debate achievements. (Garrett Bonner and Mark Shi)
  • We had three students who won Speaker Awards in addition to their debate achievements. (Shekinah Kahongo, Elizabeth Miller, and Lexi Ritchie)
  • At the National tournament, we had two students, Elizabeth Miller and Noah Pruitt, who advanced to the elimination rounds. Elizabeth reached triple octofinals (out of 115 Novice debaters) and Noah made to quarterfinals before being eliminated. This puts Noah in the top eight Novice IPDA debaters in the nation.
  • We also had two teams invited to the Madison Cup Invitational at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The competition was intense but the team of Garrett Bonner and Elizabeth Miller ranked in the top 8 teams for the tournament and in the end, they won a $500 scholarship.

At the National Tournament, I was also honored to be asked by the Executive Committee of IPDA to join the National Governing Board for the International Public Debate Association. The Governing Board consists of 7 members representing the areas of the nation that support the IPDA style of debate. Most debate coaches are male, so female coaches are the minority. On this committee, I am proud to be the second female member and the representative for the western part of Texas and the southwest part of the United States. The goal for my time on the committee will be to help spread this form of debate westward. We will begin that task by hosting a collegiate IPDA invitational tournament on ACU campus in February 2020 and possibly bid to host the National tournament in 2021.

At this point, the team is resting and getting ready for another great year. We grew from seven students in the fall to nine in the spring. We hope to welcome a few new Freshman to the team in the fall as well.  We will attend some camps and trainings this summer to sharpen our skills and get us ready for another great year.

Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout the past year. As a student debater, I was always told that the ACU Debate Team was the oldest student organization on campus so we needed to honor that legacy. I believe the team this year has done that very well and I hope we are paving a path for many years of excellence in the future. If you have any questions or would like more information about the team, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you again!