BOWLING GREEN, OH – In March five of our novices traveled to Bowling Green State University in Ohio for the Novice National tournament. Lafayette has a long history of success and even novice national championships and that success continued in 2019.  Lauren Stango is the 2019 Novice National Champion  in Prose Interpretation!  We are so proud of the novices and expect big things from them in the future.  The tournament is excellent preparation for the rest of the national tournament calendar and sets the students up for success and education as their first year comes to a close.

Lauren Stango – 1st place Prose, 3rd place Impromptu Sales, 4th place Dramatic Interpretation
Kelly Mwaamba – 2nd place Poetry Interpretation, 5th place Impromptu Sales, 5th place Slam Poetry, 6th place Dramatic Interpretation
Lia Charles – 4th place Rhetorical Criticism, 4th place Slam Poetry, 5th place Persuasion

Team Sweepstakes – 4th place

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OH – The Northern Tier Debate Conference concluded in March at John Carroll University.  The conference is six tournaments long and is also hosted by Lafayette, Clarion University, St. Anselm College, Ithaca College, and Hillsdale College over the course of the academic year.  The NTDC consists of schools from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Hampshire.

Over the course of the six tournaments, results and points are tracked to create season-long awards.  Congratulations to all of the NTDC award winners (Lafayette students, in bold):

Top Open Division Debater
1st – Sarah Stevenson-Peck, Penn State
2nd – Zak Zinda, John Carroll
3rd – Anshuman Mishra, Lafayette

Top Open Division Speaker
1st – Zak Zinda, John Carroll
2nd – Pammy Boulas, Capital
3rd – Sarah Stevenson-Peck, Penn State

Top Novice Division Debater
1st – Yordanos Mengistu, Lafayette
2nd – Bohan Xu, Penn State
3rd – Nolan McClung, Capital

Top Novice Division Speaker
1st – Nolan McClung, Capital
2nd – Stephanie Mooney, Ithaca
3rd – Yordanos Mengistu, Lafayette

NTDC Team Sweepstakes
1st – Lafayette College (Anshuman Mishra, Luisa Gunn, Yordanos Mengistu)
2nd – Pennsylvania State University (Sarah Stevenson-Peck, Elisa Vogel, Bohan Xu)
3rd – Central Michigan University (Gabrielle Pruitt, Bainbridge Scully, Gabe Butzke)

Congratulations to all of the award winners and especially Anshuman Mishra and Yordanos Mengistu for their individual awards.  The entire debate team contributed to our individual and team successes.  Luisa Gunn was instrumental as Lafayette’s third point scorer in the team sweepstakes race.  Chris Mayer, Lia Charles, Hank Scheffler and Emily Song all contributed to our success!

EASTON, PA – In February, Lafayette Forensics Society hosted the Pennsylvania Forensics Association’s (PFA) State Championship. After months of preparation, the team reached its goal and won the state championship for the first time in 11 years and only the second time ever. Individually, SIX different students were named state champions and LFS was represented in the finals of 11 out of 13 events. 

The state tournament is also responsible for selecting two members from the state of Pennsylvania to represent the state at the Interstate Oratorical Association’s (IOA) annual tournament.  The IOA tournament is the longest running public speaking competition in the nation and is limited to only two students per state.  Lafayette Forensics Society has the honor of representing the state with not just one, but TWO students.  State champion in Persuasion, Lia Charles, and 2nd place finisher Saeed Malami earned the right to compete at this prestigious and exclusive competition. 

Anshuman Mishra was even elected to serve as one of the student representatives to PFA for the coming academic year. Every team member can be proud of the work they put in this weekend!

State Champions:
PERSUASION – Lia Charles
DUO INTERPRETATION – Saeed Malami and Kelly Mwaamba
RHETORICAL CRITICISM – Scott Kamen
DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION – Lauren Stango
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE – Luisa Gunn

Full Results:
Saeed Malami – 1st DUO, 2nd DI, 2nd PER, and 3rd POI
Scott Kamen – 1st CRIT, 3rd Duo, 3rd INFO, 4th PROSE, and 5th PER
Lauren Stango – 1st DI, 3rd DUO, and 3rd PROSE
Kelly Mwaamba – 1st DUO, 3rd DI, and 4th POE
Lia Charles – 1st PER, 3rd CRIT, and 6th EXTEMP
Luisa Gunn – 1st LD, 3rd PER
Anastasiia Shakhurina – 5th PROSE and 6th DI
Eleanor Griffiths –  6th ADS
Jenny Chen – 6th POE
Kaitlin McNamara – 6th POI
Yordanos Mengistu – 2nd LD

Team Sweepstakes – Champions

Individual Accomplishments:
Individual Sweepstakes/Quadrathon: Saeed Malami 3rd Place; Scott Kamen 5th Place
PA State Rep for 2019-2020: Ansh Mishra
Interstate Oratory Participants: Lia Charles and Saeed Malami

The team is ecstatic about how States turned out and is looking forward to the remainder of the semester!

PEORIA, IL, ST. LOUIS, MO, and ATHENS, OH – The Lafayette Forensics society traveled to three tournaments during the 2019 Winter Interim Session. On January 12th and 13th, the team participated in the Hell Froze Over Swing Tournament. Hosted by Bradley University in Peoria, IL, this tournament is the biggest and most difficult tournament of the year.  Teams from all over the country compete for the highest honors in preparation for the national tournament season.  The team brought 6 students, each of whom got valuable experience in their quest to improve. Despite not winning any awards, the team was able to spend some time in Chicago visiting Millenium Park, the Bean, and the Art Institute before returning to Pennsylvania.

During the weekend of January 26th, the team split sending our debaters to the national circuit Gorlok Gala at Webster University in St. Louis, MO and our speechies to the Ohio University Interstate Individual Events Tournament in Athens, OH. At the Gorlok Gala, our team brought 5 students and 42 schools were represented. The Gorlok Gala is the biggest debate tournament in the country.  More students competed in debate at this tournament than will compete at the national tournament in April.  This tournament is a defining moment in the season for debaters from all over the nation.  After a long three days of competition, we got the opportunity to stop by the arch on our way to the airport! Here are the results:

Gorlok Gala- Webster University:

Yordanos Mengistu – Semifinalist in Novice LD
Hank Scheffler – Quarterfinalist in JV LD
Luisa Gunn – Excellence Award in Persuasion

In Ohio, our team brought 4 students and 9 schools were represented. As an excellent warm-up to the spring semester season, the team won two events and placed well in several others.  While the debaters got to visit the Arch, the Ohio crew was exploring the winding roads of West Virginia.

Ohio University:

Saeed Malami – 1st Place in Duo, 1st Place in Drama, 2nd Place in Persuasion, and 3rd Place in POI
Kelly Mwaamba – 1st Place in Duo, 4th Place in Poetry, and 5th Place in Drama
Scott Kamen – 5th Place in Rhetorical Criticism
Eleanor Griffiths – 6th Place in After Dinner Speaking

Additionally Saeed took 2nd Place in Individual Sweepstakes!

The Lafayette Forensics Society had a great opening to 2019 and is ready for the Spring Semester!  Next up: Ithaca, James Madison, and the Pennsylvania Forensic Association’s championship tournament!

CLARION, PA and WEST ORANGE, NJ – The Lafayette Forensics Society finished up October with wonderful accomplishments. Over the last two weeks the team traveled to Clarion University and to the Ed Leonard Memorial Tournament at Seton Hall University. All of our new members have now started their inagraual college forensics season.

On October 20th and 21st, the Lafayette Forensics Society competed at the second Northern Tier Debate Conference tournament of the year. The team brought 8 students entered in debate and speech events. The tournament had 8 schools represented.

Ansh Mishra – 1st Place in Extemp and 3rd Place in Impromptu
Luisa Gunn – 1st Place in Persuasion

Ansh Mishra – Semifinalist in Open LD, 3rd Place Open LD Speaker
Luisa Gunn – Quarterfinalist in Open LD
Kevin Manogue* – Semifinalist in Novice LD, 2nd Place Novice LD Speaker
Yordanos Mengistu* – Semifinalist in Novice LD, 4th Novice LD Speaker

*= College Forensics Debut

On October 27th, the Lafayette Forensics Team competed at Seton Hall University. The team brought 7 students and the tournament featured 10 schools. Against regional teams, 5 LFS members made it to final rounds. In addition, the Seton Hall Forensics Team awards one individual competitor the Ed Leonard Memorial to someone they deem as embodying the essence and friendliess of the forensics community. The team is proud to have Jennie Richardson as this year’s recipient!

Chris Mayer – 1st Place in Extemp
Ansh Mishra – 3rd Place in Extemp and 6th Place in Impromptu
Scott Kamen – 4th Place in Persuasion and 6th Place in Informative
Kelly Mwaamba – 5th Place in Drama
Jennie Richardson- 5th Place in Poetry

Next up, the Lafayette Forensics Society will be traveling to St. Anselm College. Watch this space for more updates throughout our competitive tournament season!

LINCOLN, NE – The Lafayette Forensics team kicked off the postseason last week when they attended the National Speech Championship at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The field was extremely competitive, with over 40 schools from around the nation competing in the second installment of this new national tournament. Lafayette will be a fixture at this tournament for years to come.

Every single member of the team that traveled to this tournament won awards. Several members of the team advanced to elimination rounds, with sophomore Jennie Richardson making quarterfinals in After Dinner Speaking, sophomore Saeed Malami making quarterfinals in Prose Interpretation and Program Oral Interpretation, and senior Aaron Walker and sophomore Chris Mayer making quarterfinals in both Extemporaneous and Impromptu speaking. Kaitlin McNamara advanced to the novice final showcase in Poetry Interpretation and Scott Kamen advanced to the novice final showcases for Persuasive Speaking and After Dinner Speaking, an impressive start to their national careers.

Next up – the National Forensics Association’s National Tournament, the last – and largest – comprehensive national tournament of the season. This year, we will be traveling to the University of Wisconsin-Oskhosh for this memorable experience.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OH — Four debaters (Chris Mayer, Luisa Gunn, Elias Saric, Tergel Khatanbataar) travelled to John Carroll University this past weekend (March 10-11) just outside Cleveland, Ohio.  The tournament represented the sixth and final tournament of the Northern Tier Debate Conference season.  Over the course of the season, Lafayette has fared very well in both the open and novice division.

At the John Carroll Tournament, Chris Mayer was a semifinalist in the open division and finished as 4th speaker.  Elias Saric was also a quarterfinalist in open.  Tergel Khatanbataar had a 6-0 record in the novice division, and was a semifinalist.  Tergel was also top speaker in the novice division.  This was a great finish and was exactly what the team needed to end the conference season.

These results ended a fantastic run for the team.  Lafayette took home 8 conference awards at the season-ending ceremony.  Chris Mayer finished as the second best open debater and the second best open speaker.  Luisa Gunn finished as the top novice competitor and the second best novice speaker.  Tergel Khatanbataar was the second best novice competitor and the top novice speaker.  Victoria Puglia was the third best novice speaker.  In the team category, Chris Mayer, Ansh Mishra, and Luisa Gunn placed Lafayette second in the conference behind only John Carroll University.

Debate Coach John Boyer had this to say, “I’ve been at Lafayette for 12+ years and this is on the shortlist for my proudest moment coaching.  Watching Chris take on a leadership role as a sophomore, and watching this group of young competitors grow and improve over the course of the season has been nothing short of amazing.  I’m excited to watch them take the next step as debaters.”

In April, Lafayette Forensics Society’s debaters will take that next step at the National Forensics Association’s championship tournament at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

BOSTON, MA – On March 9-11, 5 members (Emily Boyle, Scott Kamen, Kaitlin McNamara, Ansh Mishra, and Sid Vijay) of the Lafayette Forensics Society travelled to Suffolk University for the Novice National Forensic Association’s Novice National Tournament. Four of our competitors advanced to final rounds in their respective events. Two were named National Champions!!! The team won 4th place overall in the Large Entry division.

Sid Vijay advanced to the final rounds in Impromptu Sales, Impromptu Speaking, and After Dinner Speaking. He finished first and was named the Novice national Champion in Impromptu Sales! Sid also took 3rd place in both Impromptu Speaking and After Dinner Speaking. Ansh Mishra was the Novice National Champion in Extemporaneous Speaking. He answered the question, “Will President Ghani bring needed stability to the Afghan government? “Scott Kamen took 5th in Persuasive Speaking. Kaitlin McNamara was 6th place both Impromptu Sales and Slam Poetry Interpretation..

Director of Forensic Activities, Scott Placke, said, ”I’m really proud of these students. They’ve come so far this year. I’m super excited for what this group has achieved.” Scott travelled with the students to Boston.

by John Boyer

EAU CLAIRE, WI – In April, 5 members (Chris Mayer, Saeed Malami, Meredith Randall, Aaron Walker, and Luke Yamulla) of the Lafayette Forensics Society travelled to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for the National Forensics Association’s Championship Tournament.  Three of our events advanced to the elimination rounds in their respective events.  Saeed Malami advanced to the final round in novice Dramatic Interpretation.  He finished first in the final round and was named national champion in novice DI!  Saeed Malami was also an octofinalist (top 48 in the nation) in After Dinner Speaking.  Luke Yamulla advanced to the finals of novice Extemporaneous Speaking, where he took 5th place.

This marked the inaugural year for the novice division at the NFA Championships.  The category was a resounding success and Lafayette is proud to have one our students named as an inaugural national champion!  On the strength of these performances, the Lafayette Forensics Society placed 5th place as a team in Division III.

Director of Forensics, Scott Placke had this to say: “Lafayette College continues to excel at Forensics on a national scale.”