A head start on the hill, new speech and debate club
Christy Fayette
Issue date: 2/10/09 Section: News
While it is easy to get involved outside of class on campus, some students still want more.
Former high school debaters on Denison's campus want to join the ranks of larger universities in forming an intercollegiate competitive speech and debate team. These students and members of the communication department are beginning collaborations
Student leaders were encouraged by the turnout of students who had varied interests and experiences at last week's interest meeting. Steven Profitt, freshman international studies and political science double major and economics minor, and Rob Moore, freshman undecided major, began the push for this program.
The speech and debate team has a range of activities planned for its future. To get the campus involved in good citizenship and active learning, the group plans on holding periodic public debates on some topic of interest "about campus issues, local issues, national issues or even international issues," Moore said.
Moore and Proffit added that public debates will serve two purposes: helping students practice the art of debate, but also allowing the campus community to speak about important or controversial matters.
Another goal stressed by Profitt is to get involved with national speech and debate organizations, such as the American Parliamentary Debate Association (ADPA) or the National Forensics Association (NFA). These organizations are national speech and debate honor societies that sponsor intercollegiate debate tournaments at colleges and universities around the country. By associating with one of these organizations, students will be able to compete at the collegiate level, against even Ivy League schools.
"[It would be] an excellent experience for Denison to compete with these schools at that level of academia," Profitt said. In addition to being able to compete with prestigious universities, competing through an organization would provide many opportunities for local competition, as Ohio State University, Kent State University, Miami University and Ohio University are all involved.
Former high school debaters on Denison's campus want to join the ranks of larger universities in forming an intercollegiate competitive speech and debate team. These students and members of the communication department are beginning collaborations
Student leaders were encouraged by the turnout of students who had varied interests and experiences at last week's interest meeting. Steven Profitt, freshman international studies and political science double major and economics minor, and Rob Moore, freshman undecided major, began the push for this program.
The speech and debate team has a range of activities planned for its future. To get the campus involved in good citizenship and active learning, the group plans on holding periodic public debates on some topic of interest "about campus issues, local issues, national issues or even international issues," Moore said.
Moore and Proffit added that public debates will serve two purposes: helping students practice the art of debate, but also allowing the campus community to speak about important or controversial matters.
Another goal stressed by Profitt is to get involved with national speech and debate organizations, such as the American Parliamentary Debate Association (ADPA) or the National Forensics Association (NFA). These organizations are national speech and debate honor societies that sponsor intercollegiate debate tournaments at colleges and universities around the country. By associating with one of these organizations, students will be able to compete at the collegiate level, against even Ivy League schools.
"[It would be] an excellent experience for Denison to compete with these schools at that level of academia," Profitt said. In addition to being able to compete with prestigious universities, competing through an organization would provide many opportunities for local competition, as Ohio State University, Kent State University, Miami University and Ohio University are all involved.
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Cleveland Movers
posted 7/01/09 @ 3:38 PM EST
It's always good to have a speech and debate team. It helps a lot for not only public speaking skills but also analytical skills and thinking on your feet. (Continued…)
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