What do you get when you take a van full of feisty, fun University of Maryland speech and debate team members on a weekend road trip to compete in Philadelphia? A van full of winners!
On Friday, October 11, six speech and debate team students piled into a car to take on some serious competitive talk at West Chester University. This was the team’s first competition, and members Will Shah, Kevin Chiang, Sarah Cover, Bobby Lindsey, Nishka Batra, and Michael Younkin made their coach, IAA oral communication lecturer Nina LaTassa, proud. Shah and Cover teamed up for parliamentary debate, taking first and second place in their rounds, respectively. Shah earned top marks for speaking style and effectiveness. Batra, who competed in impromptu speaking, took third place in the novice division preliminaries. Chiang made a good showing in informative speaking, taking fourth place among a group of varsity competitors from such schools as George Mason, UPenn, St. Joe’s, and Hofstra. Fifteen schools competed in the weekend-long event.
“I’m so thrilled by their performance,” said LaTassa. “They practiced hard and did such a good job. I can’t wait to see how they’ll do in the future since they did so well with only one tournament under their belts!”
The team has its sights on the George Mason University tournament in early spring. For now, though, the group will continue to meet in the Jull Hall conference at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. The team is even talking about hosting its own tournament on the UMD campus.
"I don't know if it can happen, but we're certainly going to try hard to make it work!" said LaTassa. "At least I know that I have a group of dedicated students who I know will help me with whatever we decide to take on!"
