It takes months of preparation, teamwork and research, but competitors in Extemporaneous Speaking have just 30 minutes to impress the judges with a seven-minute speech. This is the kind of pressure felt by the 12 members of Creighton’s Speech and Debate Team.
Though the team acts as one entity, members are divided into two categories: speech competitors and debate competitors. There are multiple events, including public address, oral interpretation, limited preparation, parliamentary debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. Each event has its own set of rules and guidelines.
The debaters compete in the Lincoln-Douglas debate, a one-on-one policy debate. This year’s topic is “The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its constructive engagement with Cuba.”
Tiffanesha Williams, Arts & Sciences freshman, is a first-year member of the team and competes on the debate side.
“Traveling cross-country with people from different walks of life gives you insight,” she said. “We generally have fun on the trips, and we work to enhance one another while perfecting our craft.”
Before the tournament, the debate team constructs cases and forms strategies to defend each case. At the tournament, the members go through a number of rounds, debating one-on-one against a representative from another school. When the team isn’t competing, members typically discuss the previous round and prepare for the next, Williams said.
“We learn constructive argumentation skills, public-speaking skills, and we network with members from other schools around the country,” she said. “Also, we learn to think on our feet.”
Marty Birkholt is the coach of the Speech and Debate Team, and Laura Keimig is the assistant coach. This is Keimig’s first year coaching at Creighton. She coached the Individual Events Team for two years at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., before coming to Creighton.
“In comparison to other teams I have coached, the Creighton squad has had a tremendously successful year,” she said. The team competed in the Gorlok Gala hosted by Webster University in St. Louis the weekend of Jan. 30. The team won the “Traveling Gorlok Award,” based on the total number of points accumulated since first attending the tournament and received second place in Individual Events Team Sweepstakes.
Chris Fowler, Arts & Sciences junior, is a member of the speech side who competes in Prose Interpretation and Dramatic Interpretation. He has been a member of the team since he was a freshman. The Interpretation Events are memorized performances.
“It’s basically competitive acting,” Fowler said. “You need to be able to display a huge range of emotion.”
Both Fowler and Williams agree their favorite memories with the team stem from their travels together. The team has visited Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, among other states.
“There are a hundred inside jokes that revolve solely around the van trips,” Fowler said.
This year, nationals will be held in Springfield, Mo., from April 16-20, and the team plans to compete in the tournament.
“I am a better communicator because of my participation in debate,” Williams said. “It has been the ultimate enhancement to my education.”