By Lacey Bitter
The UP speech and debate team has added another trophy to its repertoire after taking the first place sweepstakes award at the 36th Annual Lower Columbia College Smelt Classic Speech and Debate Tournament.
The UP team won the sweepstakes award by accumulating the most points earned for all of the speaking events and debates among the schools competing. This is the third year in a row that UP has taken first place in this tournament.
"We've got a streak going," Bohn Lattin, communication studies professor and the speech and debate team's program director, said.
The team also placed in several other competitions. A junior team competed against a senior team and won first in the junior/senior debate, the novice team took second place and freshman Vince Purchase won first place speaker in the novice debater division.
Speech and debate tournaments have three levels - novice, junior and senior - allowing speakers with no experience to compete with others at their level.
"You're not going to be thrown to the sharks," Lattin said.
This tournament is an important accomplishment for the team that has been improving in the last few years.
"In years past I'd get a few good speakers and we'd win a few awards," Lattin said. "Now I'm getting a lot of good speakers, so we can win the big awards."
The organization has only been an official entity since 1997 when Lattin formed the program with no budget or funds.
"I knew that if we brought some trophies home, we could prove ourselves to get some money," Lattin said.
They entered a tournament at Portland State University which waived the entry fees for them and rented an old Chevrolet van from the Moreau Center that was affectionately known as "The Beast," according to Lattin. At the time, students could use the van for volunteer events, and now it is continuing its long life as Physical Plant's paint department's transportation.
At this initial tournament the team won a debate and a few individual awards, and Lattin promptly showed these trophies to the dean, leading to the team becoming an officially recognized entity.
"We've been successful ever since," Lattin said.
The speech and debate team participates in various events, not just debates. Tournaments usually also include informative speaking, persuasive speaking and extemporaneous, which consists of three topics about national or international events with 30 minutes to prepare to speak that challenges the speaker to keep up with current events.
"You become aquainted with current events, learn how others perceive them, and become tolerant of others ideas and beliefs," senior and co-captain Brit Schneider said of her two years of experience on the debate team.
The Smelt Tournament is the team's second tournament of the year and one tournament that they usually go to as it is one of the longest-running tournaments nearby. Both two and four-year institutions participate, including Lewis and Clark, Pacific University, Oregon State University and Linfield.
UP won more awards as a whole than any other four-year school participating.
The Smelt Tournament is lovingly named after the season in which it occurs - November is the largest smelt run in Longview, Wash. Smelt are a small fish common in southwestern Washington that are in season in late fall.
Traditionally, the tournament used to give out a bag of the fish for the goofiest thing that someone did in the tournament.
This tournament is one of six to eight competitions that the team usually participates in throughout the year.
This year, students also have the opportunity to compete in a major tournament in San Diego in February. Lattin promised the students that anyone who places first or second in a tournament earlier in the school year would be able to go to this tournament, paid for by school funds and ASUP money.
Both the novice and junior teams qualified for this, and the team still has one more tournament this year to be eligible.
The team consists of 16 students from various majors as anybody can join with no prerequisites necessary.
"I knew from competing in high school that speech and debate can take a lot of time out of your life, so I initially decided to just focus on school while in college," junior Thai Nguyen said. However, with the persuasion of Lattin and the fact that he missed the speech and debate experience he had in high school, he joined the team his sophomore year.
By participating in the speech and debate team, students are able to acquire and perfect a set of skills that is valuable in many different careers.
"It's a great experience for those who want to be successful," Lattin said.
Lattin mentioned that debate team alumni have now continued on to professions such as lawyers, medical doctors, research doctors, high management in Nike and assistant to the mayor in Gresham.
"You are subjected to so many opinions and strong headed people that it prepares you in how to deal with this on a business level," Schneider said. "No matter what your future is or what you're interested in, speech and debate helps in some way."
