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Black Hills State University has come in first place at its last five debate competitions. This figure includes novice debate at three intercollegiate forensics tournaments at Laramie County Community College, South Dakota State University, and (most recently) Casper College.
Congrats to Casie Hardin, Nicole Faas, Lauren Barrett, Melissa Rogers, Tytus Spivey, Damian Beartusk, and Nick Gale who were recognized at the Pioneer Trails speech and debate tournament hosted at Casper College (Casper, WY) from October 6-8.
Casie took 2nd place in Prose Interpretation.
Lauren and Nicole took 2nd place in Dramatic Duo, 1st place in Novice Debate, and both won speaker awards (5th place and 1st place, respectively) in Novice Debate.
Melissa and Tytus took 1st place in Dramatic Duo.
Damian and Nick advanced to the Quarterfinal Round of competition in Novice Debate, and Damian earned a speaker award (8th place overall) in Novice Debate.
Overall, Black Hills State University was Awarded 3rd Place for Team Sweepstakes out of 15 schools attending this tournament.
Last Year
Highlights 2010-2011 (Note: This hyperlink connects to a PDF of last year's team webpage. It does not connect to an active webpage. There are no active links within this document).
Forensics (Speech and Debate)
Forensics at BHSU is strictly co-curricular and exists as an adjunct to the academic program. The team meets in Plato's Cave (Jonas 208A) and is open to all BHSU undergraduate students. As the team budget is limited, travel is restricted to students demonstrating the appropriate effort, aptitude, and reliability. Student competitors must also be in good academic standing (a cumulative GPA of 2.5 is required for travel eligibility).
Non-Tournament Competition
Alternatives to traditional tournament competition are available in the form of school-to-school competition, campus-centered events, and the new Black Hills Collegiate Debating Union. In part, this effort is directed at cultivating alternative formats, norms, and goals for debate. This includes developing local debate programs where they do not yet exist and working with existing forensics programs.
Intercollegiate Tournament Competition
Parliamentary debate is a limited preparation speech event. In overview, the teams proceed to their rooms where the speaker of the house (judge) announces the proposition. The government team (affirmative) has 10-15 minutes to prepare the case. We do not require that our debaters have previous experience.
Individual Events include prepared and limited preparation events. These events include, Persuasive Speaking, Informative Speaking, Speech to Enertain, Communication Analysis, Prose, Poetry, Impromptu Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Dramatic Duo, Dramatic Interpretation, and Program Oral Interpretation.
On-Campus Events
The BHSU Speech and Debate Team is proud to host Night of Forensics events on campus. Also see the academic calendar to attend our next Debate Challenge.
Facebook
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Contact
If you are interested in the program and/or have any questions, feel free to contact the forensics director:
Dr. Ryan Clark
Box 9033
Black Hills State University
1200 University Avenue
Spearfish, SD 57799-9056.
Email:Ryan.Clark@bhsu.edu
Phone: 605.642.6283