TU hosts national speech and debate competition
Students travel from around country to compete in Towson 'Wellness' Tournament
Lauren Hammond
Photo by Greg Aycock
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In the National Forensics Association (NFA) sponsored event, contestants competed in such categories as impromptu speaking, informative speaking, persuasive speaking and after-dinner speaking.
Students who placed in the top six at this tournament are on their way to qualifying for the National competition at Ball State University in Indiana.
Jody Moscaritolo, coach for the Towson University Speech and Debate team, organized this weekend's tournament.
While the event was hosted at Towson, only one of the approximately 20-member Speech and Debate team competed this weekend.
"Towson University only has one person competing, but all the other members of the [TU] team are helping out and I could not pull this event off with out them," Moscaritolo said.
Cara Rockhill, a senior mass communication and political science major, was one of the Towson University team members helping out this weekend.
Rockhill, a National qualifier for the NFA, knows from past experience that much preparation goes into getting ready for competition of this kind.
"You have to prepare a lot, " Rockhill said. "The best analogy I can think of is in order to perform well in a game you have to prepare well."
Sandra Grone, a freshmen secondary English education major, is a first year member of Towson's Speech and Debate team and TU's only competing member in this year's competition.
Grone participated in speech and debate in high school and has carried her interest over into college like many of the other contestants at the tournament.
As a first semester freshmen, Grone admits, "It's a lot [of work], but I like doing it. It's my life."
Grone finished fourth in the prose competition and took fifth place in the dramatic interpretation category.
Erell Finch, a sophomore theatre major and first year team member at James Madison University, traveled to Maryland to compete with her team.
"I missed the opportunity [last year] to show [what] I have and to meet cool people from all over," Finch said regarding her reasons for joining the JMU team.
Judges from various universities and colleges helped to critique the competitors' performances.
Betsy McCann, a James Madison University speech and debate coach, came with her team this weekend to serve as a judge for the tournament.
"When judging I look for a good connection with the audience, maintaining a professional demeanor, and quality content," McCann said.
Contestants in the speech tournament seemed to lack the fear that many people have of speaking in front of an audience.
Jennifer Myers, a junior political communications major at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is one of those people. She explained that she thrives on public speaking.
"Being up there is front of a large crowd is my favorite part," Myers said.
At the end of the competition, George Mason University took first place in "sweepstakes" (competition in four different events) and Ken Latzko from St. Joseph's University took first in the individual sweepstakes competition.
