by Kaitlin Kinsella and Alyssa Braver

BOSTON, MA — The Lafayette Forensics Society team left the harsh weather of Easton, PA to travel all the way to Boston for even more cold and snow. However, the cold never bothered them anyway, as the team had a winning weekend at the Emerson Rose/New England Regionals Swing. Seven different schools competed in the two one-day tournaments, and Lafayette College was well represented. Juniors Alyssa Braver (’16), Vanessa Milan (’16), and Joseph Rothschild (’16) competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate. Senior Ryan Monahan (’15) did not compete, but he attended to help coach his teammates to victory.

During the Emerson Rose, Vanessa Milan was the only competitor to go undefeated in pre-elimination rounds – an impressive achievement! Milan and Alyssa Braver made it to the semifinal rounds of the tournament, but the two closed out as the top seed and fourth seed and Vanessa advanced. Debaters from the same school typically do not debate each other, so the higher seed advances.  This set up a final round between Vanessa and St. Anselm’s Rebecca Pelletier who also advanced over teammate Katie Muzzy in semifinals.  In a unanimous decision, Vanessa managed to secure victory, winning the tournament. Vanessa also received the second place speaker award. Her success contributed greatly to Lafayette College winning the debate team sweepstakes!

The success did not stop there, Lafayette also emerged victorious at the New England Regional Tournament. Alyssa Braver once again placed in the top four, as did Joseph Rothschild. No semi-final rounds were held, but Joseph advanced directly to finals as the second seed. In Lafayette’s second final round in two days against St. Anselm’s Rebecca Pelletier, Rothschild was victorious on a unanimous decision.  In addition, he also picked up the second place speaker award. With the victory, Lafayette was able to secure 1st place in debate team sweepstakes for the second day in a row.

However, it wasn’t just the debate team that had success. The speech team was represented by senior Joseph Arrieta (’15) and juniors Alyssa Braver (’16) and Vanessa Milan (’16). At the Emerson Rose Invitational, Alyssa Braver took second in persuasion with teammate Joseph Arrieta placing third in both poetry and prose interpretation.  Sunday’s New England Regional Championships were just as successful! Braver took third in persuasion on day two with teammate Arrieta taking third in poetry and was named tournament champion in prose interpretation.  Arrieta’s title in prose wasn’t the only championship, Alyssa Braver was tournament champion in extemporaneous speaking both days!

Overall, the Lafayette Forensics Team’s trek to the cold and snowy Boston was definitely worth it. The team will be traveling to Ohio University for the Pi Kappa Delta National Convention and Tournament in early March.