Westminster Speech & Debate Team earns national champion title

After three days of spirited competition in parliamentary debate, public speech and oral interpretation, the Westminster College Speech & Debate Team walked away as the Novice National Forensic Association’s National Champions.

Competing against 10 other teams during the tournament held March 4-6 at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., Westminster also brought home nine individual championships.

“A national championship is an incredible accomplishment, both for the team, and for individuals who won specific events,” said Dr. Randy Richardson, team adviser and a member of the School of Communication faculty. “The improvement shown by the students over the past month has been inspiring. It was a total team effort. I could not be happier for a group of students.”

Individual national first-place winners include:

Parliamentary Team Debate
Juniors Iris Davis Hall of Niles, Ohio, and Claire Mock of California, Pa.

Parliamentary Debate Top Speaker
Senior Mackenzie Hupp of Willoughby, Ohio

Individual Sweeps Top Speaker (Pentathlon)
Junior Kent Dunn of  West Valley City, Utah

Slam Poetry
Junior Kent Dunn of West Valley City, Utah

Impromptu Speaking
Freshman Ellis Moore of Millington, Minn.

Impromptu Sales
Freshman Ellis Moore of Millington, Minn.

Duo Interpretation
Ellis Moore and sophomore Makyla Wheeler of Millersport, Ohio

Westminster also placed first in the dramatic interpretation and public narrative competitions and also claimed second, third, fourth and fifth place finishes in various categories.

The Westminster Speech and Debate Team is an organization whose general purpose is to enhance the public speaking skills of Westminster students, as well as reaffirm the importance of the spoken word on campus, in the community, in our country and around the world.

The team will compete in the Pennsylvania Forensics Association State Championship Tournament which will be held March 26-27 on Westminster College’s campus.  

For more information, please contact Richardson at richarrr@westminster.edu.

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