News

Tech Speech and Debate team successful at Barbeque Capital Tournament in Owensboro

Tech’s Speech and Debate team returned victorious from the 20th annual Barbeque Capital Tournament with at least one trophy each.

The team competed against 10 other schools at Owensboro Community and Technical College. While at the tournament, members competed and brought home awards in numerous categories, including Radio Broadcasting, Dramatic Interpretation and After-Dinner Speaking.

There were several members who were finalists in their competition. Members Bridgette Buchanan, Wendall Bryant and Matt Colvard placed first, second and fifth for the Open Speaker Award, respectively.

Jacob Metz, assistant to the Speech and Debate team, says he is proud of the accomplishments the team has achieved and looks forward to the upcoming competitions.

“My personal hope is that they’ll find the activity educational,” said Metz. “I hope they learn from it in terms of learning more about speaking skills, communication skills, as well as new philosophies and ideas.”

Metz said he also hopes that the members have fun while learning and competing.

“I hope that everyone has fun with the competition itself, but also have the chance to meet new people, make new friends and have a lot of fun just by gaining new interpersonal relationships,” Metz said.

Metz believes that this tournament has helped everyone gain experience in their events and allowed them to hear feedback, which will help them as they go into their next tournament.

“Overall, our goal is to continue learning about our craft, to gradually get better and to always be competitive, which at least so far this year we’ve managed to accomplish those goals relatively well.”

The Speech and Debate team will travel to their next competition at Transylvania University in December. They will also compete in two tournaments in the spring, including the State Championship Tournament, which is held at Tech.

For more information about the Speech and Debate team, visit one of their meetings Monday and Wednesday nights at 6 p.m. in Henderson Hall Room 318D or e-mail Metz at jmetz@tntech.edu