UA students make an impressive showing at speech tournaments

Members of The University of Akron Speech and Debate Team capped a triumphant fall semester of competition at two intercollegiate tournaments held in Long Island, N.Y., during the first weekend in December. Hosted by Suffolk County Community College-Ammerman and Nassau Community College, the competitions are collectively called "Off-Broadway Swing."

Joining UA in the tournaments were Bowling Green State University; Del Mar College (Texas); El Paso Community College; University of Houston; Ithaca College; James Madison University; Linfield College (Oregon); Loyola University, Maryland; Nassau Community College; St. Joseph's University; Seton Hall University; Suffolk County Community College — Ammerman and Grant campuses; and West Chester University.

On Dec. 4, The University of Akron placed third in the Team Sweepstakes and second in the Team Quality Award. In the Individual Sweepstakes (best overall speakers at the tournament), Austin Temple was tournament champion.

In other categories:

Dramatic Duo Interpretation: Katie Giglia and Austin Temple, tournament champions; Austin Temple and Cathleen Yacapraro, second place; Gregory Bennett and Josh Rocha, fourth place.

Impromptu Speaking: Austin Temple, tournament champion.

Informative Speaking: Gregory Bennett, sixth place.

Program of Oral Interpretation: Josh Rocha, fourth place.

The results for Dec. 5 are as follows:

Team Sweepstakes: The University of Akron, third place.*

Team Quality Award: The University of Akron, tournament champions.

Individual Sweepstakes: Katie Giglia, tournament champion, and Austin Temple, second place.

Dramatic Duo Interpretation: Katie Giglia and Austin Temple, tournament champions; and Austin Temple and Cathleen Yacapraro, second place.

Group Organizational Communication: Austin Temple, second place, and Josh Rocha, third place.

Informative Speaking: Gregory Bennett, third place.

Poetry Interpretation: Katie Giglia, second place.

Program of Oral Interpretation: Katie Giglia, tournament champion, and Josh Rocha, sixth place.

*Also contributing points to the overall sweepstakes totals was Gregory Sauline.

UA team qualifies for national stage

Each year, the team works toward national tournaments in April. In 2011, the team will compete at both the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament at University of Nebraska at Kearney and the National Forensic Association National Speech and Debate Tournament hosted by Illinois State University.

The team has qualified for 19 slots in the categories of Dramatic Interpretation, Dramatic Duo Interpretation, Editorial Impromptu Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, Poetry Interpretation, Program of Oral Interpretation and Prose Interpretation.

“To give you an idea of the commitment level this takes, each of the speeches is eight to 10 minutes memorized,” notes Mark Rittenour, the team coach, who is a lecturer in the School of Communication.

“It’s been a very successful fall semester for the Speech and Debate Team, and these students deserve a lot of credit for the excellence with which they represent The University of Akron and our School of Communication,” adds Rittenour.