Maquella Chacon
Staff Writer
In a stunning win at the Pi Kappa Delta National Debate Tournament, ISU’s Rupp Debate Society took home a national title in Public Forum debate.
The tournament is a debate event that colleges throughout the country compete at annually for national titles.
This year, seven ISU Debate team members participated. The team was made up of ISU students Jordan Reynolds, Conner Coutts, Rowan Smith, Nicholas Grunig, Rianne Quigley, Kaden Marchetti and Nate Mortimer. Six out of seven placed at the tournament.
“ISU’s program is the best in the nation,” said Nicholas Grunig, team president. “It is] another reason people want to come to ISU.”
The debate team is recruiting more students than ever before and its participation is increasing. Due to this, more and more debaters are interested in and enrolling at ISU, Grunig said.
Grunig won the open International Parliamentary Debate Open round. Quigley and Grunig took home excellence awards in addition.
The big win was accomplished by Marchetti and Mortimer, who won the top national honor in Public Forum Debate.
“I’ve been doing this for five years, and it paid off,” Marchetti said.
Marchetti contributes his most recent victory to his passion and dedication to the team and the growth it has seen in his time at ISU.
The tournament was held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Competitors from regional schools such as Boise State and reputable schools from around the country, such as Cornell and UC Berkeley, were in attendance.
508 competitors came to the tournament, which is hosted every other year. Students came from 29 states and three countries, including Canada, to be at the tournament.
It was held from March 20-24 with rounds and competitions every day. The ISU debaters toured Hofstra University and participated in a tour of the United Nations, in addition to interacting with debate participants from all over the country.
The competition provides opportunities to students for growth in public speaking, along with making connections and meeting influencers in the debate field.
The ISU debate team is overseen and directed by Sarah Partlow-Lefevre, who has been head of the program since 2001 and won several awards including the Keele Award, the Galentine Award, the Ziegelmueller Award and the Val A. Browning Coach of the Year Award. In addition to her personal successes, she has led the ISU debate team to many tournament victories.
This year, the ISU debaters competed in several regional events but also held local tournaments. Online tournaments were open to registration by all ISU students and focused on popular topics with standard debate format.
Local issues were also debated openly in front of the community, including homelessness and statewide standardized testing. These events brought attention to the team and encouraged community involvement.
“We have a very young team. We already had a sophomore and a junior winning nationals,” Grunig said. “We hope to see them go again next year. [We] have a better vision of what our team should look like.”
