Category: Uncategorized (Page 7 of 12)

by Elaine Huang

HUNTINGTON, WV – This Halloween weekend, first-years Elaine Huang (’19), Connor Burwell (’19), Lauren Wisniewski (’19), and Sarah Pungitore (’19) struck fear not with their frightening costumes, but with their freakishly impressive performances at Marshall University’s Annual Speech and Debate Tournament.

On Saturday, Connor, Sarah, and Lauren all competed in the novice division of Lincoln Douglas Debate, debating four rounds, while Elaine threw herself into the open division of Lincoln Douglas Debate for the first time, enduring six rounds. It was her and Sarah’s first time competing in the novice division of Extemporaneous Speaking, and Connor’s first time competing in After Dinner Speaking. Lauren competed in Poetry for the second time. An exhausting day ended with a rewarding announcement–Connor Burwell had advanced to the final round of Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate!

On Sunday, Connor gave an astounding performance against Simpson College’s Kelly Clark. Though he lost the round on a 3-0 decision, the debate was incredibly close. Later, the team found out Sarah and Connor had both advanced to the final round of their respective speech events. In finals of Extemporaneous Speaking, Sarah gave an analytical speech about Africa and Boko Haram while Connor delivered his hilarious and insightful After Dinner Speech about co-ed fraternities.

Sarah and Connor both received 6th place for their speech events, with Connor also receiving an award for Top Novice in ADS. Lauren received Top Novice for her performance in Poetry, as well as first speaker in Novice LD. In addition to winning second place in Novice LD, Connor also claimed the title of second speaker. All in all, it was an amazing learning experience for the tiny, but formidable Lafayette force at Marshall!

by Joseph Rothschild

EASTON, PA – The Lafayette Forensics team has done it again in their hometown, clinching a first-place finish over a half-dozen top contenders at the Ocho, our very own annual tournament held on October 3rd and 4th.

Not only did the back-to-back four-round tournaments represent an incredible opportunity for experienced debaters to prove their worth, it also marked the first time Lafayette’s first-year debaters attended a competition. Elaine Huang (’19), Connor Burwell (’19), Sarah Pungitore (’19), and Lauren Wisniewski (’19) all had remarkable showings at their debut tournament.

The first day of the tournament, returning debater Joseph Rothschild (’16) and novice debaters Elaine Huang, Connor Burwell, and Lauren Wisniewski all advanced to elimination rounds. All three of the novices made it to quarterfinals, an impressive showing for the first debate tournament of their lives. In open, Joseph Rothschild advanced all the way to finals where he matched up against Western Kentucky’s Mark Allseits. The explosive round resulted in a 3-0 decision for the hometown debater from Lafayette College.  This was Joseph’s second consecutive win and third successive final round appearance to start the season.

The second day of the tournament, Joseph Rothschild had prior obligations, but was still around to scout rounds and distract Lafayette’s other returning debaters, Alyssa Braver (’16) and Vanessa Milan (’16). After another grueling four rounds of competition, Vanessa Milan advanced to elimination rounds in open alongside Elaine Huang, Connor Burwell, and Lauren Wisniewski, who once again advanced. While Lauren Wisniewski and Connor Burwell once more were eliminated in quarterfinals, Elaine Huang made it all the way to semifinals before being eliminated. Vanessa Milan, in open, powered through an octofinal round before a close debate against CSU Sacremento’s Brandon Garcia. Day 2 open finals concluded with a Western Kentucky victory awarded to Carolyn Evans.

All in all, it was a phenomenal weekend for Lafayette College. Besides the Day 1 victory and numerous speaker awards falling in Lafayette’s favor, three novice debaters are now qualified for the national tournament, and Vanessa Milan’s elimination-round appearance qualifies her as well.

by Joseph Rothschild

BOWLING GREEN, KY – Lafayette Forensics hit the ground running at Western Kentucky University (September 18-20), starting off the season with a series of impressive finishes over the three-day, two-tournament long weekend. While only two members of the team (Alyssa Braver ‘16 and Joseph Rothschild ‘16) were able to attend, their combined efforts were enough to clinch two final round performances, one national qualification, and even a first-place finish.

The first of the two tournaments, the Alexis Elliot Round Robin, is a yearly tournament hosted by Western Kentucky that aims to reward some of the most consistently successful debaters in the region with a 6-round tournament. The round robin was divided into two sections, named “Big Red” for WKU’s mascot and “White Squirrel” after the albino rodents that are found around campus. Both Alyssa Braver and Joseph Rothschild were proud to represent Lafayette College in the two separate pods of the tournament. Joseph Rothschild won the “Big Red” division of the tournament and 2nd place overall after a heated final round and a 4-1 decision to the winner of the “White Squirrel” division, WKU’s own Mark Allseits.

After some mediocre chicken and waffles at a local diner, Alyssa and Joseph returned the next day for the second of the two tournaments. Another grueling six rounds later, Joseph Rothschild was able to claim a spot in the top 8, ensuring the team would get precisely zero hours of sleep and instead would spend the evening researching and preparing new evidence in the hotel lobby. With the help of coaches John Boyer and Kim Runnion and the steadfast dedication of fellow teammate Alyssa Braver, Joseph won his quarterfinal and semifinal round on back-to-back 2-1 decisions before debating WKU’s own Bailey Rung in finals. After an especially close debate, the decision was another 2-1 in Lafayette’s favor. The team beat a hasty retreat to their flight with their first-place trophy in tow.

WKU’s tournament is the first qualifier of the year, and the team’s impressive finish qualifies Joseph Rothschild to the national tournament to be held in April. Lafayette will not compete again until their own two-day tournament, The Ocho, on October 3rd and 4th. Watch this space for the results of what promises to be another exciting tournament!

by Alyssa Braver and Kaitlin Kinsella

ATHENS, OH — For the second time this year, The Lafayette Forensics Society traveled to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for a national tournament. After a successful trip to the Pi Kappa Delta National Conference Tournament, the team headed back for the National Forensic Association’s National Championships. In order to attend this prestigious event, competitors in both speech and debate had to qualify at regular season tournaments.

The Lafayette Forensics Society has spent the year debating the topic “Resolved: that the United States Federal Government should increase its development of the Earth’s moon in one or more of the following areas: energy, minerals, and/or water.” A long season culminated in six preliminary rounds and five single-elimination debates to determine the national champion. This year five debaters attended: Ryan Monahan (‘15), Justin Horn (’15), Joseph Rothschild (’16), Alyssa Braver (’16), and Vanessa Milan (’16). Lafayette alumni Samuel Derrick (‘10) and Teevrat Garg (’10) also came back to help coach the team and act as judges. There were 84 debaters from 23 different schools competing in debate. The competition was fierce, but this did not stop Lafayette from having an amazing end to an amazing season.

Senior Justin Horn (’15), and Juniors Alyssa Braver (’16) and Vanessa Milan (’16) did not advance to elimination rounds, but they were an integral part of the team in terms of preparing their fellow teammates. Ryan Monahan (’15) and Joseph Rothschild (’16) advanced to the elimination rounds, which is an incredible achievement in itself as only 32 debaters advanced.   Monahan advanced as the tournament’s second seed, while Rothschild was the last debater to qualify in the thirty-second spot.

Monahan went undefeated during pre-elimination rounds and utilized the second seed to his advantage. He defeated Purdue’s Taylor Brewer in the round of 32, advancing to face Bailey Rung from Western Kentucky University in the round of 16. Victorious against Rung, Monahan advanced to the quarterfinals and debated Truman State University’s Dillon Laaker. Monahan advanced on a 3-0 decision, which set up a semifinal round against Western Kentucky’s Nefertiti Dukes.

As the thirty-second seed in the tournament, Joseph Rothschild was paired against the top seeded Emma Collins from Western Kentucky University. Like Monahan, Collins had been undefeated in the preliminary rounds and the senior was looking to finish a terrific senior season with a deep run at nationals. In a highly competitive round, Rothschild pulled off the upset on a 2-1 decision. This win gave Rothschild momentum and he rolled through Missouri State’s Pouya Parsian in the round of 16 to set up a quarterfinal matchup against high school rival, Tyler Prochazka. Tyler and Joseph were both high school debaters in Kansas and have debated many times in the last six or seven years. In an emotional round, Rothschild continued his roll into the semi-finals on another 2-1 decision. Cenrtral Michigan University’s Audrey Weber awaited.

At this point, with two debaters in semifinals, Lafayette knew they had locked up second place in the team portion of the event. Western Kentucky had already sealed first place on the strength of putting FIVE debaters into the top 16. This is a tremendous achievement for the team, and is the third time Lafayette has finished in second place of the team portion at Nationals.

In the semifinals, Ryan Monahan debated Western Kentucky’s Nefertiti Dukes. The two seniors are friendly rivals, and their semi-final round was one of the most anticipated debates of the year. The two have been two of the top debaters in the nation for the past two seasons. In a close round, Ryan lost to Nefertiti, who advanced to finals. However, Ryan did manage to secure the 4^th place speaker award for the entire tournament. This was a fantastic end to his career, which included two appearances in the national semifinal round, a Lafayette record. His success in debate has served him well. Monahan is currently planning to attend University of Pennsylvania law school in the fall.

Joseph Rothschild debated Central Michigan University’s Audrey Weber in Semi-finals. In a unanimous 5-0 decision, Rothschild advanced to the final round, against Western Kentucky’s Nefertiti Dukes. Almost every debater and coach at the tournament attended the final round. A diverse seven-judge panel was assigned the task of deciding a national champion. It was an exciting, educational, and emotional time as both debaters began their speeches by thanking coaches and teammates. In one of the closest finals round that anyone can remember, Joseph Rothschild finished runner-up on a 4-3 decision awarded to Western Kentucky’s Nefertiti Dukes.

Lafayette Forensics Society has yet to win the national championship, but Rothschild’s success marks the second time Lafayette has advanced a debater to the final round and Monahan is the fifth Lafayette debater to finish in the top four at the  national tournament.  Despite not advancing to the elimination rounds, Senior Justin Horn has also finished his career as a debater at Lafayette College.  As a junior, Justin was part of the group of debaters that closed out the top four spots at the Pi Kappa Delta national tournament and participated in the elimination rounds at the NFA national championships, finishing tied for 17th.  Now that the team has returned, it is time to start preparing to do it all again next year with a new topic – bioethics.

In addition to having a strong showing in debate, Lafayette Forensics Society was represented by seniors Sharon Chen (’15) and Joe Arrieta (’15); juniors Cassidy Reller (’16), Alyssa Braver (’16), Vanessa Milan (’16), and Jen Bognar (’16); sophomore Kaitlin Kinsella (’17); and first-year Aaron Walker (’18) in the speech events. While the speech team did not secure any individual awards, the team was victorious in coming together and rallying behind one another. Lafayette competed in eight different individual events: rhetorical criticism, informative speaking, persuasive speaking, after dinner speaking, poetry interpretation, prose interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, and impromptu speaking. Teammates supported each other by watching rounds and practices. The entire team is close-knit despite the individual nature of the events. Members of the team should be proud of their accomplishments over the past year. In order to compete at NFA one must qualify for this tournament, which is not an easy task. Just competing at NFA is an accomplishment to be proud of. This year Lafayette was able to have each member of the speech team qualify in all of their events showing the strength and dedication of each member.

NFA is the last tournament of the year that Lafayette travels to together as a team. Seniors Sharon Chen, Joe Arrieta, Ryan Monhan, and Justin Horn will be greatly missed. These four seniors have been great leaders and role models for their teammates and have been integral for Lafayette’s success these past few years. Their experience with the Lafayette Forensics Society will be invaluable in whatever endeavors come next for each of them. We can’t wait to have them back to help judge and coach!

There is just one more tournament left. Sharon Chen (’15) qualified for the Interstate Oratorical Association’s national tournament. Taking place at Berry College in Georgia, the IOA tournament is the oldest oratorical competition in the nation. In addition to competing for top honors, Chen will have her speech published in the annual publication Winning Orations. Lafayette has a long tradition of qualifying students to the IOA tournament and Sharon will make the Lafayette Forensics Society proud!

by Kaitlin Kinsella and Alyssa Braver

COLUMBUS, OH — While the basketball team was dancing in Pittsburgh against Villanova (#rollpards, congrats on a great season!), the Lafayette Forensics Team went dancing this Spring Break at two tournaments. To start the week off some of the novices traveled to Butler University in Indianapolis for Novice Nationals March 14-15. Novice Nationals is a national tournament where novices are the only competitors invited — all competitors at this tournament are in their first collegiate year of speech. This is a great tournament to measure how much a competitor has grown throughout their first year of speech.

This year the Forensics Team had seven novices competing in the speech circuit. The novices of the 2014-2015 year included: seniors Ryan Monahan (’15) and Joseph Arrieta (’15); juniors Alyssa Braver (’16), Vanessa Milan (’16), and Jennifer Bognar (’16); and first-years Aaron Walker (’18) and Jasmine Puri (’18). With the addition of the seven novices the Speech Team doubled in size and had a healthy 10 competitors. Senior Sharon Chen (’15), junior Cassidy Reller (’16), and sophomore Kaitlin Kinsella (’17) returned as speech team members. The novices were an important addition to the team allowing the Lafayette Leopards to excel in speech tournaments throughout the year.

Joseph Arrieta, Jennifer Bognar, Aaron Walker, and Jasmine Puri represented Lafayette at Novice Nationals. Giving up their first weekend of Spring Break, the team traveled over 600 miles to Butler University to compete in the annual event. The Leopards competed in prose, extemperaneous speaking, impromptu, persuasion, and after dinner speaking. In addition to competing in several events, the novices had the opportunity to bond as a group and look back at their progress throughout the year. All four novices that traveled to Novice Nationals have qualified for April’s National Forensic Association Championship Tournament in their first year of competition, which is no easy feat.

At Novice Nationals, teammates Aaron Walker and Jennifer Bognar advanced to final rounds. Walker received two awards: fifth place in extemporaneous speaking and fifth place in impromptu. Bognar finished fourth in after dinner speaking. Advancing to finals at Novice Nationals is an incredible honor and excellent result. This was the 33rd Novice National Tournament and 29 schools from across the nation were represented. Breaking to finals shows just how strong Walker and Bognar’s speeches were. Every novice who competed in Novice Nationals should be proud of their progress and represented Lafayette exceptionally.

In addition to traveling to Butler University, the Leopards also traveled to Columbus, Ohio to compete at the Ohio State Generic Tournament on March 21. The four Leopards that traveled to Ohio were: Joseph Rothschild (’16), Vanessa Milan (’16), and Alyssa Braver (’16); and Kaitlin Kinsella (’17). The students competed in both speech and debate.

Building on the momentum gained in Indianapolis, the Leopards did extremely well in individual events. Vanessa Milan was the tournament champion in persuasion with teammate Kaitlin Kinsella receiving second. Kinsella also recieved second in impromptu and was the tournament champion for prose interpretation. The Leopards showed their excellent oratorical skills at Ohio State this past weekend.

Three debaters competed as well. Juniors Joseph Rothschild (’16), Vanessa Milan (’16), and Alyssa Braver (’16) all competed in the open division. Five schools competed in Lincoln Douglas debate. Joseph Rothschild (’16) was the top seed after the preliminary rounds, going 4-0. This achievement ensured that he would represent Lafayette in the semi-finals round where he faced off against Maggie Parson from Otterbein Univeristy. In an intense and close round, Joseph narrowly lost on a 2-1 decision. However, the team still had a fun and educational time at the tournament, followed by even more hotel fun consisting of Just Dance and Zumba, in which Joseph Rothschild was the Just Dance champion.

The next time the debaters will compete will be at the Spring Six at our own Lafayette College on March 28th. It is sure to be an exciting experience that you do not want to miss! A Just Dance competition will also be held before Awards. We hope to see you there! In the mean time, don’t get fancy, just get dance-y!

by Alyssa Braver and Kaitlin Kinsella

ATHENS, OH — It was a great weekend for the Lafayette Leopards. Not only did Lafayette’s men’s basketball team knock off No. 1 Bucknell in Patriot League semifinals (on their way to their first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bid since 2000), but the Lafayette Forensics Society also had a successful weekend. Four Lafayette students attended Pi Kappa Delta, a national forensics tournament that took place at Ohio University.

Pi Kappa Delta is the national forensics honorary, and as the oldest collegiate forensics organization, this convention has special significance to many in the forensics community. Lafayette is the PA PHI chapter of Pi Kappa Delta, inaugurated in 2003.  Pi Kappa Delta’s motto is “the art of persuasion, beautiful and just.” 2015 was the 49^th convention year of the tournament. While Pi Kappa Delta hosts a tournament every year, only every other year is a convention year. A convention year means that awards of excellence and superior are awarded to the top 30% and 10% in competition, and convention years also include a fancy banquet. This year 75 schools from 30 states attended the tournament. Even the snow, which caused the tournament to start a day late, couldn’t prevent Pi Kappa Delta from being a competitive, educational, and overall fun experience for the Lafayette Speech and Debate Team.

Three debaters traveled to the tournament. This included senior Ryan Monahan (’15) and juniors, Alyssa Braver (’16) and Vanessa Milan (’16). All three competitors did very well in Open Lincoln Douglas Debate, a division in which there were 33 competitors. Ryan Monahan ended up being the third place speaker in the division! Vanessa Milan also did fantastic, as she was the 12^th seed in the tournament. While no elimination rounds were held because of the initial snow day, had they occurred, Vanessa would have broken to Octo-finals. Her success did not stop there, as she was also the top speaker in the entire division! Teammate Alyssa Braver also contributed to the team’s success, as she received an award of excellence in debate for being the 10^th seed. Overall, Lafayette’s debate accomplishments were quite impressive, especially given the fact that Pi Kappa Delta is a prestigious and national tournament

Every team member that competed at Pi Kappa Delta competed in a speech event: interviewing. At Pi Kappa Delta interviewing is a special speech event consisting of three rounds: the first two rounds you are either an interviewer or an interviewee and the third round is when one’s resume is judged. All four team members competed in interviewing meaning Ryan Monahan made his speech debut. On connection years, Pi Kappa Delta gives out awards to the top 30% of speakers in each event. If a speaker is in the top 11-30% they receive an excellent award and if someone is in the top 10% they receive a superior award.   Alyssa Braver received an excellent award in interviewing.

In addition to interviewing, Lafayette was represented in extemperaneous speaking, persuasion, communication analysis, and informative speaking. Senior Sharon Chen received an excellent award in persuasion and a a superior award in communication analysis. Sharon was 4th in the nation for communication analysis, an impressive performance!

Overall, the Lafayette Forensics Society had a very successful weekend. Ryan Monahan, Vanessa Milan, and Alyssa Braver were inducted into Pi Kappa Delta and senior Sharon Chen returned for her third year.   All four members benefitted greatly from competing at such a national tournament, in addition to making new friends and fun memories. Plus, the cake at the banquet was delicious! Despite the snow and all the rain, Ohio ended up being okay, and the team will again return to the state from March 20-22nd to compete next at Ohio State’s tournament.

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.

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!