For 65 years, the Ferris speech and debate team has been a mainstay on campus, winning many awards and producing many champions for the team.
This past year has been a very different year for the team, having one of their most successful seasons that Ferris has ever seen. The team had two members who were ranked in the top 25 in the nation, with over 140 awards won by the team throughout the year.
Then the team found out that their coach, Aimee Miller, would be leaving Ferris and the team. Miller had been the coach for three years, but Ferris allegedly offered her low compensation for her work.
So, after years of negotiating with the dean, and little progress with recieving a larger budget for the team, Miller resigned. It came down to her and the administration not being able to negotiate a contract, and ultimately, Miller and Ferris parted ways.
Senior Jonathen Hart, who is studying sports communications and is the former president of the speech and debate team, spoke about the situation with Miller.
“It was a weird time to find out that Miller was leaving,” Hart said. “We had just come off one of our most successful years that Ferris had ever seen, and so when we found out, I went and spoke with her about her decision to leave. Ultimately, it boiled down to her and the administration not being able to agree on what her contract would look like going forward.”
The whole year for the team has been a weird one; they had their department chair retire and a new one step in. As well as the humanities department being moved from Johnson Hall, it has been a big year of transition for the debate team.
Since then, Dr. Kristi Scholten, a professor of communications, has volunteered her time to be the coach for the team, and she spoke about why she volunteered to do so.
“I coached debate here at Ferris about seven or eight years ago. I think 2018 was my last semester,” Scholten said. “You know, just in many organizations, you always have a bit of turnover. It just so happened this year that we had a vacancy, so I volunteered to step up into that role.”
Scholten also commented on the negative effects a gap year would have on the debate team’s motivation.
“I did not want a gap year for this team, as even with just a single gap year, I did not want us to be forgotten,” Scholten said. “As anyone who has ever played sports before, when you have a gap year like that, you can lose a lot of momentum and lose a lot of membership.”
Scholten has many years of coaching debates under her belt; not only did she once coach Ferris, but she was a competitor during high school and throughout her undergraduate years. Additionally coaching through her masters and PhD, she has a total of around 20 years of experience.
Nonetheless, the team is still looking for a new permanent coach and plan to begin interviewing candidates in the spring to hopefully fill the position.
Current speech and debate President, senior Seth Brott who is studying information security and intelligence, is confident in the future of his team.
“We should have a fully dedicated and permanent coach by next year,” Brott said. “With Dr. Scholten, she is an amazing coach, and she has coached national champions. I am very confident that we can find another good permanent coach. The team is extremely dedicated and has been putting in that extra effort to grow our team.”
Even with all of the commotion, the team is still competing. They have multiple virtual tournaments planned, with an upcoming tournament planned for Sept. 27. They will also be traveling to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, this November.
Jonathen Hart was previously employed by the Ferris State Torch.