Debate team awarded
Carol Wehe
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: News
Sophomore Lee Anne LaPlue said she was more concerned about delivering a message at the last forensics tournament, held at Purdue University in mid-September, than about winning the competition.
But her conservative speech about a girl's experience with abortion won her first place, despite the circuit's reputation for hiring liberal judges, she said.
"[My speech was] very different in format and content from everyone else in the tournament," LaPlue said. "Coach thought I should change it all up."
LaPlue's decision paid off - the judge told her he liked her "unorthodox style," she said.
Assistant Professor of Speech Jeremy Christensen said his main goal for this year is to help the debate and forensics teams win the national championship. Last year the teams underwent many changes, but he believes they are more experienced this year and should improve enough to achieve his goal by spring.
Many colleges' debate and forensics departments staff multiple coaches and give full scholarships to students whose main focus is debate, Christensen said.
Hillsdale is too small to force that kind of focus on debate and forensics, he said.
Still, Hillsdale ranked 34th nationally last year.
But Christensen does not pay much attention to rankings, which favor schools that only attend a few tournaments and win by putting more experienced debaters in novice brackets, he said.
So far this year Hillsdale has attended three tournaments. At Purdue two weeks ago, Hillsdale won third sweepstakes. During the Western Kentucky tournament this past weekend, the teams received first overall debate sweepstakes.
This weekend freshmen Trevor Anderson and Michele Philbrook achieved first place novice team at a tournament at Wayne State.
Anderson also won top novice. The rest of the team struggled, but this tournament gave the freshmen a chance to get a feel for things, Christensen said.
"I think we'll get better," LaPlue said. "[We have some] really good freshmen with a lot of potential."
But her conservative speech about a girl's experience with abortion won her first place, despite the circuit's reputation for hiring liberal judges, she said.
"[My speech was] very different in format and content from everyone else in the tournament," LaPlue said. "Coach thought I should change it all up."
LaPlue's decision paid off - the judge told her he liked her "unorthodox style," she said.
Assistant Professor of Speech Jeremy Christensen said his main goal for this year is to help the debate and forensics teams win the national championship. Last year the teams underwent many changes, but he believes they are more experienced this year and should improve enough to achieve his goal by spring.
Many colleges' debate and forensics departments staff multiple coaches and give full scholarships to students whose main focus is debate, Christensen said.
Hillsdale is too small to force that kind of focus on debate and forensics, he said.
Still, Hillsdale ranked 34th nationally last year.
But Christensen does not pay much attention to rankings, which favor schools that only attend a few tournaments and win by putting more experienced debaters in novice brackets, he said.
So far this year Hillsdale has attended three tournaments. At Purdue two weeks ago, Hillsdale won third sweepstakes. During the Western Kentucky tournament this past weekend, the teams received first overall debate sweepstakes.
This weekend freshmen Trevor Anderson and Michele Philbrook achieved first place novice team at a tournament at Wayne State.
Anderson also won top novice. The rest of the team struggled, but this tournament gave the freshmen a chance to get a feel for things, Christensen said.
"I think we'll get better," LaPlue said. "[We have some] really good freshmen with a lot of potential."
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