Author: John Boyer (Page 7 of 11)

by Kaitlin Kinsella

STATE COLLEGE, PA — The best way to spend Valentine’s Day is with those who you love.  Fortunately, the Lafayette College Forensic’s Speech Team got to spend their Valentine’s Day together – as one giant family.  On February 13 and 14 the team competed in the Pennsylvania Forensics Society State Tournament at Penn State University.  The team did exceptionally well, with two members receiving state titles, and every member of the team breaking into final rounds.  

Senior Sharon Chen, President of Lafayette’s team, is state champion in rhetorical criticism.  In addition to her state title, Chen placed second in her other two events: informative and persuasion.  Placing second in persuasion earned Chen a bid to the Interstate Oratorical Association Tournament April 24-26 at Berry College in Georgia.  To receive a bid to this tournament, the oldest oratorical contest in the US, one must place first or second at the state tournament level.  In addition to competing at this tournament, every contestant’s speech is published in the book Winning Orations.  This is Chen’s first time qualifying for this tournament and the team couldn’t have been happier with having Chen represent the state.  

Aaron Walker, a first-year student at Lafayette, took home the state title in impromptu speaking.  Not only did Walker take first in impromptu, he also took third place in extemporaneous speaking.  Walker has been a great addition to the Lafayette Speech Team – as a first year student he has dazzled fellow teammates with his critical thinking skills and the poise he has when speaking. Walker has grown so much since he started with the team and we cannot wait to see how he progresses.

Chen and Walker were not the only two to place in the annual tournament.  Senior Joseph Arrieta placed third in poetry; junior Jennifer Bognar placed fourth in prose and second in after dinner speaking; junior Alyssa Braver placed fourth in extemporaneous speaking; junior Cassidy Reller placed second in impromptu, second in extemporaneous speaking, and third in persuasion; sophomore Kaitlin Kinsella placed third in impromptu and sixth in persuasion; and first-year Jasmine Puri placed fourth in persuasion.  Every member of the Lafayette Speech Team broke into final rounds, resulting in Lafayette taking second overall.  

The team is preparing to compete in the National Forensics Association’s national tournament April 26-20 at Ohio University.  The next stop before nationals is the Emerson College Rose Invitational and the New England Regional Championships in Boston February 21-22. Both the speech and debate team will be competing at this tournament.

by  Kaitlin Kinsella

HARRISONBURG, VA — Lafayette College was represented by a “small but mighty team” at James Madison University February 7-8, 2015. At this swing tournament, junior Cassidy Reller and first-year Jasmine Puri gave it their all. These two made their team back at Lafayette proud.
Jasmine Puri, the only novice at Lafayette who travelled to JMU, brought her persuasion to the tournament. When reflecting on the tournament to her teammates she said, “watching the impromptu rounds was amazing – the individuals who competed in it were just so confident”. After watching the impromptu rounds at JMU, Puri decided that she wanted to take on this event and will be competing in impromptu for her first time at Pennsylvania State University on February 14-15. Puri has been an outstanding addition to the team, always rising to every occasion. She has a very bright future in forensics and we can’t wait to see how Jasmine does in all of her future events.
Cassidy Reller showcased his limited prep skills by placing in the top six in extemporaneous speaking. Reller, who competed in persuasion, extemp, and impromptu at JMU, has continuously proven that he is a force to be reckoned with in the Forensics World. Reller’s favorite memory of the tournament was getting to know fellow teammate, Jasmine. Being abroad in Prague last semester meant that he did not have as much time meeting the novices on the team. Because Reller considers the Forensics Team as part of his family at Lafayette, he was grateful he got to travel to JMU with Puri.
Almost the entire speech team traveled to Penn State for the PFA State Tournament on February 14-15. Make sure to check back to see how the team did!

By Alyssa Braver and Kaitlin Kinsella

ST. LOUIS, MO — It was the weekend before second semester started and instead of spending their last few precious days of break at home, the Lafayette College Speech and Debate team traveled to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in Webster University’s 2015 Gorlok Gala. The Gorlok is the University’s fictional mascot and has the paws of a cheetah, the horns of a buffalo, and the face of a Saint Bernard dog. The tournament is one of the most competitive of the year with 49 different colleges and universities attending from 22 states.

Representing Lafayette College in debate were senior Ryan Monahan (’14) and juniors Joseph “Jimmy “ Rothschild (’16), Vanessa Milan (’16), and Alyssa Braver (’16). Freshman Emily Carter (’18) also competed in the open division of debate, and this was her first time flying with the team! Coaches John Boyer and Kim Runnion traveled with the team as well, and they were instrumental in making the tournament run smoothly by helping to run the tabulation room and the ballot table respectively.

Joseph Rothschild competed for the first time this academic year after studying abroad in London last semester. Despite this time off from debate, he managed to make it to elimination rounds. After defeating Western Kentucky University’s Tyler Prochazka in octofinals, Joe advanced to quarterfinals. While Joe ended up losing to Western Kentucky’s Emma Collins, quarterfinals is still a remarkable feat. This is even more impressive given the fact that there were 56 competitors in the Lincoln Douglas open division of debate. Joe is now qualified for the National Forensic Association’s National Tournament in April. In addition, he received the 7th place speaker award.

The winning did not stop there. Senior Ryan Monahan also advanced to elimination rounds. After defeating The Ohio State University’s Sam Halter on a 3-0 decision in octofinals, he advanced to quarterfinals where he defeated Western Kentucky’s Carolyn Evans. This set up a semifinal round between Ryan and Purdue University’s Taylor Brewer. Ryan won in a 3-0 decision, making the team start to worry about whether they would catch their flight back to New-ark in time.

The other semifinal round was a closeout between Western Kentucky’s Mark Allseits and Emma Collins. Their coaches advanced Emma as the higher seed, setting up the final round between Ryan and Emma. While Ryan ultimately ended up losing the round, second place was still a victory for Lafayette as this is the best the team has done at the Gorlok in recent years. Ryan received the 9th place speaker award, and the team luckily all made it to their flight on time!

However, it wasn’t just the debaters who did well this tournament. Representing Lafayette College in speech was seniors Sharon Chen (’14) and Joe Arrieta (’14) and juniors Jennifer Bognar (’15), Cassidy Reller (’15), and Alyssa Braver (’15). Alyssa Braver competed in persuasion making her the only member of the team at this tournament to compete in both debate and speech. Senior Joe Arrieta competed in prose as did his teammate Jennifer Bognar who also competed in after dinner speaking. The team welcomed back Cassidy Reller, who had been studying abroad in Prague last semester. At his first tournament back Cassidy competed in impromptu, persuasion, and extemporaneous speaking. The team is glad to finally have everyone back and can’t wait to see what will happen the rest of this academic year!

One member of the speech team did exceptionally well at the Gorlock. Senior Sharon Chen, the President of Lafayette’s Speech and Debate Team, placed second in communication analysis and received an excellent award in informative. The Gorlock Tournament was extremely competitive and for Chen to receive an Excellent Award she had to be in the top 30% of competitors. Chen has been a great asset to this team. Early this month Chen represented Lafayette at West Chester University and earned the third place small school award all by herself. At that tournament she received first place in communication analysis and third place in persuasion. Chen continues to dazzle the team with her performances and also remains a great support system for the entire team showing how great of a president she is!

The Leopards will be resting up this weekend and preparing for a busy few weeks ahead. The speech team will be traveling to James Madison University in Virginia for February 6. The weekend after that the speech team has Pennsylvania’s annual state tournament. The team started off 2015 with a bang and can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

by Kaitlin Kinsella and Alyssa Braver

MANCHESTER, NH – It was an all around winning weekend for Lafayette, as the Lafayette Leopards made a stunning comeback to defeat the Colgate Raiders in football, and the Lafayette Forensic Team swept the field at Saint Anselm’s Jack Lynch Memorial tournament.

This annual tournament is named after Jack Lynch, a World War Two marine who went on to be a professor at Saint Anselm College. He was the drafted to start up the debate team, despite never having done debate himself. He coached the team for 46 years and was loved by all in the forensic community. Every year, the tournament is held in his honor and an award is given in his name to a debater, chosen by the community, who best exemplifies his love for the activity and the values of the community. This year the Jack Lynch Award was given to Lafayette’s own Vanessa Milan (’16).

Debaters Justin Horn (’15), Alyssa Braver (’16), Vanessa Milan, and Emily Carter (’18) competed in the tournament’s open division. After four preliminary rounds, Alyssa Braver advanced to semi-finals, where she defeated Hillsdale’s Kevin Ambrose in a 3-0 decision. Saint Anselm’s Becca Pelletier and Otterbein’s Maggie Parson also made it to semi-finals, and Maggie Parsons advanced. This set up a final round between Alyssa Braver and Maggie Parsons. In a 2-1 decision Maggie Parson became the tournament champion.

Alyssa Braver went on to receive the 5^th place speaker award. Justin Horn received the 4^th place speaker award and Vanessa Milan received the 3^rd place one. The success did not stop though, as Andrew Ortiz (’18) more than adequately represented Lafayette in the novice division. St. Anselm was the first tournament Andrew ever traveled to, and this made his semi-finalist finish even more impressive. Andrew Ortiz also received the 4^th place novice speaker award. All these achievements contributed to the Lafayette debate team receiving 2^nd place in team sweepstakes!

The debate team was not the only Lafayette team to receive a team sweepstakes award at this year’s Jack Lynch Memorial tournament. The speech team received 1st place in IE Team sweepstakes. This was the third tournament Lafayette’s speech team competed in this semester and had the largest number of individual competitors. Sharon Chen (’15), Joseph Arrieta (’15), Vanessa Milan, Alyssa Braver, Jennifer Bognar (’16), Kaitlin Kinsella (’17), Paul Polk (’18), Jasmine Puri (’18), Bilal Akbar (’18), and Aaron Walker (’18) represented Lafayette’s speech team this weekend at Saint Anselm’s College.

The Speech Team received 1st place in team sweepstakes because of the impressive speeches the entire team presented. Senior and president of the Lafayette Forensics Team, Sharon Chen, received the award for 1st place Trithon while teammate Kaitlin Kinsella received 2nd place Trithon. In order to qualify for the Trithon award a competitor must have competed in at least three events. Impressively, this weekend every member of the Lafayette speech team received an award.

The Lafayette Speech team competed in prose, extemporaneous speaking, impromptu, informative, rhetorical criticism, after dinner speaking, and persuasion. Joseph Arrieta got 1st place in prose with teammates Kaitlin Kinsella getting 2nd place and Jennifer Bognar receiving 3rd place. Extemporaneous speaking was also swept by Lafayette students with first-year Aaron Walker receiving first place. First years Paul Polk took second and Bilal Akbar took third. In impromptu Kaitlin Kinsella received 2nd place. Jennifer Bognar also got 2nd place in after dinner speaking. Senior Sharon Chen received first place in all of her events: rhetorical criticism, informative, and persuasion.

While Sharon Chen received first place in persuasion, the top five persuasion speakers were from Lafayette College. Kaitlin Kinsella finished in 5th place, Alyssa Braver was awarded 4th place, Jasmine Puri received 3rd place, and Vanessa Milan completed the sweep in 2nd place. Alyssa Braver and Vanessa Milan were double entered in speech and debate at this tournament. This was Alyssa’s first time with persuasion and only Vanessa’s second tournament with speech. These two debaters are a great addition to the speech team and we can not wait to see how they do the rest of the year! This was the first tournament for first-year Jasmine Puri and she is only going to get better.

The Lafayette speech team represented Lafayette well in persuasion and all of the other individual events. The next time the Lafayette Forensic Team will be competing is at Ohio State University from December 5-6 in the Holiday Frolic tournament. Wish us luck as we wrap up the fall semester right before exams.

-by Alyssa Braver (’16) and Kaitlin Kinsella (’17)

HUNTINGTON, WV — It was homecoming weekend at Lafayette, and even though our football team might not have won, the Lafayette Forensics team had a successful and enjoyable weekend competing at Marshall University’s 2014 Chief Justice tournament. It was the first time the team has been to Marshall since Nationals in 2013 in which now senior Ryan Monahan (’15) was a semi-finalist. This time he was determined to claim the title of champion.

Juniors Alyssa Braver (’16) and Vanessa Milan (’16) also competed in the debate tournament, as did freshman Emily Carter (’14). This was the first time Emily Carter debated in the open division of debate, an impressive feat for a freshman. Junior Vanessa Milan was also double-entered in Persuasive Speaking, in which she competed for her first time. Vanessa was the only member of the Lafayette team to do both debate and speech, demonstrating the true meaning of what it means to be a member of the forensics team.

After a 5-1 record in the preliminary rounds, Ryan Monahan advanced to a quarter-final round in which he defeated St. Anselm’s Rebecca Pelletier on a 3-0 decision. This set up a semi-final round between Ryan and Purdue’s Taylor Brewer. Ryan once again emerged victorious in a 3-0 decision. The other semi-final round was a close-out between Western Kentucky’s Mark Allseits and Bailey Rung. Mark Allseits advanced as the higher seed. Mark and Ryan had an intense final round about the viability of Lunar Solar Power. On a 2-1 decision, Ryan Monahan won the tournament, making it his second victory in a row after winning Lafayette’s tournament earlier this month. In a dominating performance, Ryan only lost two ballots the entire tournament, in addition to receiving the top speaker award.

The Lafayette Forensics team was well represented in individual events. Seniors Sharon Chen (’15) and Joe Arrieta (’15), previously mentioned Vanessa Milan, and sophomore Kaitlin Kinsella (’17) competed in IEs. This was the first time Chen and Kinsella competed this year. In addition to LD Debate, the Forensics Team competed in Prose Interpretation, Persuasive Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism, and Informative Speaking. While none of the competitors advanced to finals, this was a great start to what is sure to be a successful year.

Despite not being in the final rounds, senior Joe Arrieta won the Top Novice Award for Prose. In a difficult tournament field, Joe’s strong grasp and performance of his piece allowed him to outshine the other novices. Joe’s talent has dazzled and impressed his fellow teammates, making him a great addition to the team. We can’t wait to see what Joe and the rest of the Speech members will do for the remainder of the year.

The next time Lafayette Forensics team will be competing will be at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire on November 8. We can’t wait to see what will happen.

by Kaitlin Kinsella (’17)

WEST CHESTER, PA – On Saturday, October 11, 2014 Lafayette’s Speech Team competed for the first time at West Chester University for the 2014-2015 year. This year there were fourteen schools competing at West Chester. Lafayette’s Team was represented by four novices: freshmen Bilal Akbar ’18 and Aaron Walker ’18, junior Jen Bognar ’16, and senior Joe Arrieta ’15. Akbar and Walker represented Lafayette in extemp, while Bognar and Arrieta competed in prose in their first tournament with the team.

The four novices were wonderful representatives of Lafayette and made the Speech Team proud. The tournament is important for the team because it exposes and introduces the novices to the forensics community. The team is really excited to see what will happen with this new generation of the Lafayette College Forensics Society. Next, we’ll be traveling to Marshall University in West Virginia for a speech and debate tournament on October 25-26. This is going to be a great year for Lafayette Forensics!

by Alyssa Braver (’16)

EASTON, PA — It was the weekend of Fall Festival at Lafayette College, but the Lafayette debate team had other plans. It was also the weekend of Lafayette College’s annual debate tournament, The Ocho.  The tournament derives its name from the fact that originally there were eight preliminary rounds before the top 16 debaters advanced into Octo-finals. While enough teams haven’t competed for this to be the case in recent years, this weekend teams came from all across the country to compete (Shout out to University of Pacific for coming all the way from California!) allowing the tournament to be a true Ocho once again.

Four debaters competed for Lafayette College in the Open Division of the tournament. They were seniors Ryan Monahan (’15) and Justin Horn (’15), as well as juniors Vanessa Milan (’16) and Alyssa Braver (’16). There was also a novice division in which two Lafayette debaters also competed for their first time in college Lincoln Douglas debate. These debaters were freshman Andrew Ortiz (’18) and Emily Carter (’18).

In the Open Division, both Ryan Monahan and Justin Horn advanced past preliminary rounds. In an Octo-finals debate, Ryan Monahan defeated University of Pacific’s Reed Ramsey to advance to Quarter-finals. Lafayette’s Justin Horn defeated Western Kentucky University’s Nefertiti Dukes in a 3-0 decision. This is more impressive given the fact that Nefertiti Dukes was the only person to go 8-0 during the preliminary rounds this tournament.

In Quarter-finals, Justin Horn lost to Sterling’s Brandon Hoesli. However, Ryan Monahan defeated University of Pacific’s Jonathan Bruce in a 2-1 decision. He advanced to a semi-finals round against Otterbein’s Maggie Parsons, which he also picked up in a 3-0 decision. This led to a final round between Ryan Monahan and Brandon Hoesli.

The round for the tournament championship took place in Lafayette’s Limburg Theater for all to watch. It was an intense and exciting debate, and it came down to a 2-1 decision. However, Ryan Monahan emerged victorious by one vote and claimed the title as tournament champion. He also ended up winning the top speaker award for the Open Division of the tournament, which meant, in true Lafayette spirit, he received a leopard hat full of candy.

The tournament champion of the Novice Division was also one of Lafayette’s own. Emily Carter in a 3-0 decision defeated John Carroll University’s Austin Rivers. She also received the top speaker prize of the Novice Division and secured her qualification for this years NFA’s National Tournament.

Overall, it was a fun and rewarding tournament in addition to being the biggest tournament Lafayette has hosted in recent years. It is hopeful that the tournament will continue to grow next year. Until then, the next time the Lafayette Debate team will be competing will be at Marshall University from October 24-27.

On Thursday September 18th, four debaters from Lafayette College (along with their Director of Speech and Debate, Scott Placke) set out for Western Kentucky to compete in their first tournament of the year. After surviving a flight to Nashville and a short car ride to Kentucky, the debaters arrived at their hotel ready to compete and support their teammates the next day in Western Kentucky’s annual Round Robin.

Senior Ryan Monahan won the inaugural Round Robin, but this year the tournament was christened with a new name. Now the Alexis Elliot Memorial Round Robin, the tournament is a fitting memorial to one of the finest and most inspirational debaters ever.

Monahan and fellow senior Justin Horn were selected to represent Lafayette College in this elite tournament in which only two students from each school are allowed to compete. There were ten debaters entered, and together they comprised some of the best talent in the nation. Juniors Vanessa Milan and Alyssa Braver also attended the tournament to watch and help prep their teammates.

Although Monahan did not reclaim his title as tournament champion, he did manage to make it to semi-finals, an impressive feat nonetheless. In addition, he claimed the third place speaker award. He also qualified for the NFA National Tournament. Nefertiti Dukes from Western Kentucky University won the Round Robin with Truman State’s Donny Richardson finishing second.

The debate fun was just beginning. Saturday morning began Western Kentucky’s Fall Fiesta tournament. This time, all four Lafayette debaters competed. There were a total of 31 debaters entered in the open division of Lincoln Douglas Debate, and they came from schools all across the nation. The debaters competed in six preliminary rounds.

Justin Horn and Alyssa Braver both advanced into elimination rounds. Justin Horn lost in the quarter-finals and Alyssa Braver lost in semi-finals. Both debaters qualified for Nationals. The final round was a close-out between two Western Kentucky debaters, Tyler Prochazka and Nefertiti Dukes. Ryan Monahan picked up another speaker award, this time taking second place, despite not qualifying for the elimination rounds.

The next time the team will debate will be from October 4-5 in The Ocho, which will take place at our very own Lafayette College. It is sure to be an exciting and educational event!

–Alyssa Braver, VP of Debate

On Saturday, September 13 the Lafayette Forensics Team traveled together for the first time to go on a retreat to Chambersburg, PA. This retreat brought together returners and novices and allowed for the speech members to intermingle with debaters. The retreat consisted of educational components that gave an overview of all the different events. By exposing speech members to debate, and debaters to speech, teammates gained a new appreciation of their team members and also encouraged individuals to try new events. In addition to the educational component of the retreat a key purpose was to bring the group together. By engaging in several icebreakers, team bonding activities, and games novices and returners learned about one another and felt like they were part of a special group. The Lafayette Forensics Team got a lot of work done and had some fun at the Fall 2014 Retreat. Now they are ready to get out in the circuit and compete!

–Kaitlin Kinsella, VP of Speech

On September 12th-14th, the Lafayette Forensics Society will be descending upon Gettysburg, PA for their annual fall retreat.  First-year competitors will be attending along with veteran members of the team to prepare for the upcoming competitive season.  We will be departing after afternoon classes have concluded on Friday. If you are interested in attending, please contact Scott Placke (plackeh<at>lafayette<dot>edu) and RSVP.