Howard Payne University’s Student Speaker Bureau Speech and Debate Forensics team achieved its best rankings recently at the H.A.L.F. Parli Marathon debate tournament held in Kingwood, Texas.
Three HPU parliamentary debate teams advanced to semi-final rounds during the two-day swing tournament. A swing tournament consists of two days of debating, each day counting as an individual tournament.
Adam Hardy, a sophomore Academy, political science and biblical languages major from Corpus Christi, was named third place top speaker award for the tournament, and the HPU debate team won second place overall sweepstakes in the tournament. This is the highest honor the debate team has earned.
The HPU teams advancing to semifinals on the Saturday portion of the tournament included the team of Hardy and Charity Chambers, freshmen Academy and communication studies major from Wichita, KS; and the team of Lauren Teel, junior Academy, political science and English major from Canton, and Jake Aschmutat, freshman Academy and political science major from Corpus Christi. Semifinalists on the Sunday portion of the tournament were Hardy and Raquel Spencer, junior communication studies major from Fritch, Texas. Also competing in the tournament were Robert Davis, junior political science major from San Antonio, and Ne’Lexia Galloway, sophomore communication studies major from San Antonio.
Dr. Julie Welker, professor of communication and coach of HPU speech and debate team said that this was by far HPU’s best showing at a debate tournament.
“Our students are doing an outstanding job. We’ve only been competing in parliamentary debate now for three years and this is quite an accomplishment,” said Welker.
Welker attributes the debate team’s success to Ms. Elisha Nix, Brown County’s Assistant County Attorney, who has been volunteering her time by helping coach the debate team.
“Ms. Nix has been a critical component of our debate team’s success. She brings a vast amount of debate knowledge from her years of competing in collegiate debate at Liberty University. We are so grateful for the time she is dedicating to our HPU students,” added Welker.
Nix said that she is very proud of the efforts of the students.
“The team worked very hard and debated well. This was the first time we have had two teams clear at the same tournament. Reaching that goal is a great accomplishment for Howard Payne and should encourage us to aim even higher in the future,” said Nix.
Student Speaker Bureau Speech and Debate Forensics team is also coached by Mrs. Kim Bryant, associate professor of communication. Bryant works primarily with students competing in individual speaking events.
The speech and debate team will compete next at the Texas Intercollegiate Forensics Association (TIFA) Fall Championships Tournament this weekend. The team competes in the TIFA circuit and also nationally in the National Christian College Forensics Association.
Photo Above – SSB Fall 09 – (left to right) HPU teams advancing to semi-finals included Adam Hardy, Charity Chambers, Lauren Teel, Raquel Spencer and Jake Aschmutat. photo by Kalie Lowrie
