Fifteen Arkansas Tech University students traveled to the Southern Forensics Championship in Starkville, Miss., in late January and returned home to Russellville with what is believed to be ATU’s first statewide championship in debate.
Dr. Gabriel Adkins, associate professor of communication and director of debate and forensics at ATU, said the ATU debate team finished in first place among all Arkansas teams. The annual Southern Forensics Championship event is recognized as the state championship event for debate teams from Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
“It means a lot to our program and our department,” said Adkins, who has provided leadership for the ATU debate team since 2011. “I am proud of our team. We have built ourselves from a small team that competed in 2-to-3 tournaments per year into one that is now seen as a leading team in the largest collegiate debate association in the world. The state title is another step in gaining that level of recognition.”
Members of the 2020 Arkansas state championship debate team from ATU are: Nihal Anwar of Russellville, Stephen Baker of Russellville, Kiara Bradford of Conway, Brayden Downum of Springdale, Raegan English of Dardanelle, Gaje Faulkner of Dardanelle, Rebekah Hughes of Forrest City, Scottie Lawrence of Russellville, Chloee Oxford of Siloam Springs, Sarah Pollock of Rogers, Jerry Schoe of Eureka Springs, Constance Smith of Little Rock (graduate assistant), Ethan Taylor of Beebe, Kiley West of Pea Ridge and Hannah Wyatt of Fort Smith.
“The benefits of the program are huge to our team members,” said Adkins. “We have five alumni of the debate team who have completed (doctoral) degrees or are in the process of doing so. We have sent more than 20 students on to graduate school and produced law school graduates. We participate in IPDA, which is real-world persuasion training as opposed to technical debate. We moved away from purely academic debate several years ago to emphasize real-world, applicable life skills.”
ATU will host a collegiate IPDA debate tournament Feb. 28-March 1 on its Russellville campus. It will mark the sixth consecutive year the ATU debate team has hosted the event.
Adkins said the group is seeking volunteer judges for the tournament. It is preferred that judges have no previous experience with debate.
To volunteer as a judge for the ATU debate tournament, send e-mail to gadkins@atu.edu.
Learn more about the ATU Department of Communication and Journalism at www.atu.edu/cj.
