On Fri., Oct. 22 through Oct. 24 the CUI Forensics Team competed and placed fifth overall at the Sunset Cliffs tournament hosted by Point Loma Nazarene University at their oceanfront campus.

According to Skip Rutledge, Director of Forensics at Point Loma, the school decided to host the tournament because they were “believers in friendly competition between different schools and this [was] an opportunity to bring people back into the face-to-face community.” 

Konrad Hack, Professor of Communication Studies and Director of Forensics, said, "In a year where we are coming out of COVID and a number of our top competitors graduated, we did a really nice job with our tournament this weekend. We are young and talented, working hard; all of those things are good.” Sean Nowlan, the debate captain, said, "We prepared for all sorts of arguments coming into the tournament and our team members worked hard both through practicing and researching. Coming out of the tournament, we saw massive amounts of improvement across the board. We have a strong and diverse team filled with many amazing individuals.”

Ethan Gray, sophomore on the speech team, took first place in informative speech while Greta Jones, freshman on the debate team, took first place in NFA-LD debate. Gray said, "It is exciting to know I can compete against those who have done this for years. It's nice to see all the hard work I’ve done pay off and I’m looking forward to constantly improving in the future.” Jones said, "This was a great honor, very unexpected. I’m blessed to be a part of Concordia’s historically successful debate team.” 

CUI as a whole placed fifth at the tournament which had twenty-nine schools present from all around the nation like Alaska, Colorado and Tennessee.

The coaching staff at Concordia was phenomenal. Elise Sprimont, freshman on the debate team said about Benjamin Lange, the head coach for the debate team, “Benji is a great coach on the debate team who listens to us and provides a helping hand to promote our growth.” 

Tabitha Johnson, freshman on the speech team, said about Claire Crossman, head coach of the speech team, “Coach Crossman is an encouraging coach who has pushed me to be better, and I’m so thankful for that.”

Denise Sprimont-Vasquez and David Vasquez, both successful alumni of the CUI Forensics program, came from Chicago to coach the debate team during the Sunset Cliffs tournament. Jones said, "It was nice to have alumni supporting current debaters. It speaks to the impact that the team makes on people's lives. This program gives so much to them, they want to give back.”

This event provided an abundance of education to those who participated. Chirstianna Patton, sophomore on the debate team, said, "My favorite part so far has definitely been meeting new people and learning new things that I never knew about before. It has challenged me to think critically and thoroughly about things and helps me be more aware about what's going on in the world today.” Axel Aguilar, sophomore on the debate team, said that he “got out of [his] comfort zone and learn[ed] more about [him]self.”

Rutledgesaid, “Debate not only gives you knowledge of the political events, which in a democratic government is essential to good voting and community participation levels, it also helps the participants learn research, argument, organization, public speaking and respectful listening skills.” Hack added, “[Debate teaches] five skills that employers want most: Oral communication, written communication, critical thinking, teamwork and work ethic.”

For inquiries about joining the forensics team and future tournaments contact Professor Hack at konrad.hack@cui.edu

Tags: debate, speech, Forensics

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