On Dec. 2, Ferris’ Speech and Debate Team hosted a speech tournament for the first time in over a decade in the university’s Starr Building.
The tournament lasted from 9 am to about 6 pm. There were 45 competitors at the tournament coming from seven different college teams from the state of Michigan. Besides Ferris, the teams that competed were Eastern Michigan University, Saginaw Valley State University, Northwood University, Oakland Community College and Delta Community College.
Aimee Miller, the director of the speech and debate team and an instructor of communication, explained why it was important for Ferris to host the speech tournament for the first time in over a decade.
“Our program is going through a rebuilding period after the pandemic,” Miller said. “This tournament helps to put us on the map in Michigan and establish a better presence. We got to see a lot of faculty, staff and community members participating in the day. It’s a rewarding feeling to watch students enjoy the competition, to see the judges impressed by the events and to have spectators stop by to support the activity.”
Ferris had a total of eight students in the tournament. One of the contestants, information security and intelligence sophomore Seth Brott, talked about his speech and his experience at the tournament.
“I participated in Impromptu Speaking and Impromptu Sales. I earned 3rd and 2nd place respectively,” Brott said. “My experience has been wonderful. Being able to travel and compete with my best friends is a great experience. The tournament went very smoothly, and all of the rounds were fun and competitive.”
Brott and the other Ferris contestants gave speeches in their respected categories. The categories included were Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Sales Speaking, Poetry Speaking and Dramatic Interpretation. The individual results from the awards ceremony were:
Deion Vo won 1st Place in Extemporaneous Speaking
Chris Rowland won 3rd Place in Extemporaneous Speaking
Chris Rowland won Top Novice in Extemporaneous Speaking
Adam Savage won 5th Place in Extemporaneous Speaking
Seth Brott won 2nd Place in Impromptu Sales Speaking
Chris Rowland won 5th Place in Impromptu Sales Speaking
Seth Brott won 3rd Place in Impromptu Speaking
Morgan Keller won 6th Place in Impromptu Speaking
Abigail Trowbridge won 2nd Place in Poetry Speaking
Abigail Trowbridge won Top Novice in Poetry Speaking
Jonathen Hart won 4th Place in Dramatic Interpretation
As a college reward, Ferris got 3rd place in the Team Sweepstakes. Saginaw Valley received 2nd place while Eastern Michigan received 1st place. The students and universities received trophies during the awards ceremony. The plastics engineering department created the trophies. The trophies were designed with 3D-printed torches reminiscent of Ferris’ seal.
In addition to explaining the importance of Ferris hosting the tournament, Miller finds it important for other universities to host this type of tournament.
“It’s important to support our state in its speech and debate activities, especially to encourage more people to join,” Miller said. “Also, the travel component to speech and debate provides students with the opportunity to widen their horizons. It can be a cultural experience, so having other universities host tournaments means that students can experience other towns or states.”
The team president, environmental biology junior Holland Synder, has hope that students will gain a positive experience participating in the tournament. The university provided thirteen judges who were faculty members, Big Rapids community members and members of the administration.
“I hope that students competing this weekend gain wonderful memories,” Synder said. “While winning is wonderful, ultimately I want people to come out of the tournament to have gained something more from the experience, whether that’s a new found confidence or pride in a performance well done.”
During the next academic semester, the team will participate in more tournaments. They will attend the Michigan Intercollegiate Speech League Novice State Championship in February at Northwood University, and the NISL State Championship in March at Wayne State University. In addition to those events, the team will also attend the National Forensics Association’s annual championship tournament in April at Central Michigan University.