A parliamentary debate team from Missouri Western State University finished second in the novice division of the 2014 Missouri Association of Forensics Activities State Championship Tournament at the University of Central Missouri Feb. 15. Freshmen Graham Deckard of Kansas City, Mo., and Eli Dodge of Smithville, Mo., were undefeated until they fell to Truman State University in the championship round.
“We’re so proud of all of our speech and debate students for dedicating themselves to a rigorous activity and excelling in only the first year of the program’s development,” said Sohail Jouya, who coaches the Missouri Western team with Abi Richardson.
Deckard and Dodge weren’t the only successful Missouri Western team in the novice parliamentary debate division. Freshmen Brad Stanton of Savannah, Mo., and Haden McDonald of Rosendale, Mo., also advanced to the semifinals and finished third.
“Due to the way the elimination rankings were decided we comprised two of the four teams in the semifinals but, unfortunately, we were pitted against ourselves,” Jouya said. “The team of Deckard and Dodge was the only undefeated team in the division and we decided to allow them to ‘walk over’ the team of McDonald and Stanton into the finals.”
The debaters also won individual Speaker Awards, based on the total of points in the preliminary rounds. Dodge was 4th Overall Speaker, Deckard 5th, McDonald 6th and Stanton 7th.
Two other freshmen competed in speech at the tournament: Kasey Maag of Cosby, Mo., in informative speaking and Cierra Edwards of Savannah, Mo., in prose.
The State Championship Tournament featured teams from 15 universities and colleges. It is an “open” state tournament, so teams from other states competed as well, including Illinois State, the University of Illinois and others. It was the last scheduled competition of the year for the speech and debate team, revived at Missouri Western this year after an absence of more than 10 years.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.