Concordia Forensics hosts speech and debate tournament

The Concordia University forensics department hosted a speech and debate tournament on the Concordia campus on Saturday, October 1. This was the first in-person forensics event for the department since 2019. 

“It was a pleasure to welcome other colleges to our campus to compete in the 11 AFA-NST Individual Speech Events as well as team Parliamentary Debate,” said Concordia’s Director of Forensics Joe Davis. 

Concordia faculty and staff helped judge the event. Participating schools were from Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and South Dakota. 

“Being back in person for a competition was a reminder as to why I love the activity and enjoy getting to connect with competitors from other schools,” said senior Sabrina Reed who placed second in prose interpretation. “I am grateful we were able to compete in person again on our home campus for the first time since I was a freshman and I look forward to what the season brings.” 

Freshman Matt Koenig and sophomore Aarin Dean were named parliamentary debate champions. Three Concordia Nebraska students also received parliamentary debate speaker awards: Zipporah Johnson received third place, Koenig received second place, and Dean received first place. 

“It was so exciting to have debate back on campus after a decade away,” said Forensics Graduate Assistant and Interim Director of Debate Malia Frerking. “It was a bonus that we won, but honestly, just having the program back on campus was the best part of the weekend. I’m very proud of the progress that our debaters have made, and how they are working to shape the future of our team.”

Interested in discovering speech opportunities at Concordia? Learn more here.