VSU Debate Team Blazes into North GA for the Win

By Brittany Duren

Valdosta State University’s Forensics  (Speech and Debate) Team won First Place Overall and more than a dozen additional awards at the University of North Georgia’s sixth annual Chicken and Egg Tournament Sept. 26-28.

The Chicken and Egg Tournament featured parliamentary debate sanctioned by the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) Friday and Saturday followed by a competition sanctioned by the International Public Debate Association (IPDA) Saturday and Sunday. The debate featured students from five states and 16 schools.

With all the scores added, VSU came out on top with first place in the IPDA Sweepstakes and second place in the NPDA sweeps

VSU hosted the Blazer Classic on homecoming weekend, October 24-25. Students from eight school and three states competed. Overall the VSU team placed in first  in IPDA and NPDA.

The team visited Louisiana State University Nov. 7-9 to compete with 30 schools from 10 states. Team member Mercy Dahm and coach Dr. Michael Eaves each took fifth place in their respective divisions. Eaves and assistant coach Keven Rudrow direct the debate team.

The team is preparing to compete in the Gorlok Gala tournament at St. Louis in January and the state tournament in Piedmont in February.

The team competes in regional and national level competitions and participates in parliamentary debate as well as individual events, such as impromptu speaking, extemporaneous speaking, poetry interpretation, informative speaking, persuasion, dramatic interpretation, dramatic duo, and more. Membership on the team is open to all majors on campus and does not require previous experience, Eaves noted.

Debate Team
Debate Team