The Speech and Debate Team is sweeping through the competition this year. On September 13-14,  the team attended their first tournament at Pellissippi State Community College. With 14 trophies, the team is on the road to success. 

The tournament consisted of individual events, along with the debating portion, where the team debated against 16 different schools. Individual winners placed sixth through first place, along with two ETSU teams competing against one another in the semi-finals. Kendall Robertson and Riley Axelrod were semi-finalists and Rebekah Saulsbury and Ethan White were the NDPA Champions.

 Ipinoluwa Akintola, second place winner, competitive team member and public relations officer, spoke about her experience for this tournament and what is in store for the rest of the season. Akintola mentions the hard work and challenges she and her teammates faced in preparation for the tournament.

“For this tournament, it was really early into the semester, two weeks after school resumed, we had a boot camp. During boot camp, people started finalizing speeches, writing speeches and getting ourselves together, which was challenging. Still, it made us realize that we can get a lot done in a little amount of time,” stated Akintola.

(Contributed/ETSU Speech and Debate)

Akintola mentioned the process of green lighting, which is when the coach gives the team the OK to compete their pieces in the tournaments. In this case, in the short time they had, they presented their speeches regardless and came out on top. The team took home the second place team sweepstakes trophy, just behind the University of Alabama, and in the debate portion, took home the second place sweepstakes trophy behind Carson-Newman.

“We have transfers from Northeast and Walters State Community College, but the dynamic is way better than expected. We’re getting to know each other well, we talk, laugh and help each other out. It’s that team spirit that’s there and great which works beautifully,” Akintola shared.

With a hard-working and strong team dynamic, the Speech and Debate Team is ready to take on the upcoming season. Wish them luck for their upcoming tournament at Walters State Community College. Congratulations to the team for attending the first tournament and winning big!

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