The newly established University of New Mexico Speech and Debate team hosted the UNM Lobo Howl on Saturday Nov. 3 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Judged by UNM student volunteers, New Mexico high school students were welcomed to compete in the tournament to win from a variety of awards.
The tournament offered 10 events for students to compete in, including extemporaneous speaking and student congressional debate. A total of 18 New Mexico high schools participated, making the total amount of attendees over 180 participants. Awards were given out to the top three competitors of each category.
According to Adelynn Nee, founding member of the Speech and Debate Club at UNM, about 20 UNM students volunteered to judge, in combination with five other members of the group. However, the event was open to any UNM student interested in judging.
“What we teach high school speech and debaters is that whatever their event is, they have to come in and present it to any type of judge,” Nee said. “It doesn't have to be a judge who is super knowledgeable about speech and debate, it just has to be any person who is willing to come in and judge them on their speaking abilities, their research and their use of style.
According to Nee, the speech and debate circuit in New Mexico is active and exceptionally successful. Students from New Mexico have made appearance in final rounds at the national tournament several times and have been given numerous National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) Awards.
This was the first Lobo Howl Speech and Debate Tournament in eight years. Self-funded through registration fees and member contributions, the UNM Speech and Debate team is entirely grassroots.
“The team is very new at this point, which is why we thought that hosting a high school tournament would be a great first step. Our eventual goal is to send UNM students to compete at the college level and regional and national debate circuits in the United States,” said Nick Kennedy, advisor to speech and debate at UNM and a graduate student in history.
As more members join the team, UNM Speech and Debate anticipates participating in several tournaments. One of the team’s goals is to participate in the 2020 National Tournament. Through a rigorous and competitive selection process by the National Speech and Debate Association, New Mexico was chosen as the location for the event, according to Nee.
“This tournament is expected to bring 8,000 attendees and more than $10 million in direct spending to the city,” Nee said. “As thousands of the countries brightest students will filter into New Mexico for the tournament, it is essential that UNM offers an outlet for these students to consider our flagship university.”
According to Kennedy, one of the best ways to join the UNM Speech and Debate team is to contact them by going to the Student Activities Page (for UNM) and to finding contact information for some of the representatives of the team.
Luisa Pennington is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted by email at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @_lpennington_.
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