The MTSU Blue Raider Debate Team is wrapping up another successful season in which members continued sharpening their oratory and reasoning skills against fellow collegians around the country.

The team competes in National Parliamentary Debate Association, or NPDA, and International Public Debate Association, or IPDA, debate formats. In NPDA competition, two-person teams debate head-to-head in multiple rounds, with a new topic presented each round. In IPDA formats, debaters primarily go one-on-one with various time limits in effect for both formats.

Dr. Pat Richey

“Coming off of last year’s national championship victory, MTSU’s debaters continue to show that they can hold their own and excel,” said team coach Dr. Patrick G. Richey, director of forensics at MTSU. “I am lucky to have such dedicated and intelligent students on this team.”

The team began the year at the University of the Cumberlands in early September with two semifinalists emerging during the IPDA competition.

That was followed by a successful visit to the University of North Georgia, where MTSU took first place in IPDA sweepstakes, third place in NPDA sweepstakes and third place in overall sweepstakes at the annual “Chicken and Egg Debates.”

The event included Abby Howard, a junior a communication studies major from Smyrna, Tennessee, as tournament winner in the junior varsity division and more than nine speaker awards, including first place by junior communication studies major Abbey Barnes of Morristown, Tennessee, in the varsity division.

Blue Raider Debate continued north to Walters State Community College in Morristown later in the fall, where the team won the tournament in the open division — courtesy of debaters Samantha Abbott, a sophomore marketing major from Hendersonville, Tennessee, and Colonial Geiger, a junior computer science major from Fairview, Tennessee — and third place in sweepstakes overall.

The team rounded out the fall semester at Valdosta State University by taking first place in overall sweepstakes and fielding second-place finalists in both the novice and varsity divisions. This was coupled with a great showing in NPDA as team members Abbey Barnes and Leigh Stanfield, a senior communication studies major from Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, went to the semifinals and Stanfield won first place speaker in the open division.

MTSU debate team coach Dr. Patrick G. Richey, at right, is shown with debaters from MTSU and Belmont at Murfreesboro City Hall. The Feb. 16 “model debate” featured debaters from the two universities to demonstrate “exemplary political discourse and consider several issues related to the election process.” The League of Women Voters of Murfreesboro/Rutherford County sponsored the event. (Submitted photo)

The spring semester saw the team do well in both the Southeast Regionals/University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Volunteer Classic as well as the annual Tennessee Intercollegiate Forensics Association Tournament, taking a novice to semifinals at UTK and winning three speaker awards.

Freshman Breyhana Johnson, a fashion merchandise major from Chicago, took the novice division at the Tennessee Intercollegiate Forensics Association State Championship as well as second-place speaker in the division.

The team has been fundraising in hopes of traveling to Pi Kappa Delta Nationals in March and IPDA Nationals in April to defend its national title.

During the fall semester, the team hosted a “Think Before You Vote” event on campus to highlight key issues and differences between the main Democratic candidates for president. A similar event was held in the spring for the Republican primaries.

Team captain Michaela Edwards, a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, with a double major in communication studies and psychology, said the group also is heavily involved with local home-school leagues and volunteered to judge their local tournament.

Last month, some team members joined debaters from Belmont University in Nashville to participate in a citywide model debate, sponsored by the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County League of Women Voters, at Murfreesboro’s City Hall.

Later this spring, the team will travel to Memphis to judge the Memphis Urban Debate League City Championship, a high school program geared toward at-risk schools in the urban areas of Memphis.

For more information about the MTSU Blue Raider Debate team, contact Richey at patrick.richey@mtsu.edu or visit www.mtsu.edu/debate.

— Submitted by Michaela Edwards, MTSU Debate Team captain