Four members of the UIS Speech and Debate Team participated in the OATS 4 (Online Asynchronous Tournament Series) competition held on December 4-8. A total of 184 students representing 47 colleges and universities from across the country competed in this online tournament.
On December 1, two team members recorded their competition speeches with other team members serving as their live audience. Grace Nance competed in the Program Oral Interpretation event, and Line Nilsson competed in the Informative Speaking event.
Two additional varsity team members recorded their speeches individually. Yasmin Palencia competed in the Persuasive Speaking event, and Clark Morgan competed in the Impromptu Speaking event.
In the Preliminary Rounds, Clark was ranked in 4th place. His excellent scores qualified him to compete in the Final Round with a different impromptu speech. Overall, Clark finished in 6th place out of 33 students competing in the Impromptu Speaking event.
“I’m very proud of Clark and the rest of the team,” said Dr. Claire Gordon, Director of Speech and Debate at UIS. “They really stepped up their game this semester by attending in-person team meetings and watching and critiquing each other’s speeches. It was a great experience for everyone to watch team members’ speeches improve over time. We look forward to more exciting opportunities during the Spring Semester!
“We also bid a fond farewell to team member Line Nilsson, who will return to her home country of Denmark this week. Her informative speech on the differences between Danish and American lifestyles and cultures was fascinating and really helped broaden our cultural horizons. We will miss Line next semester, and we wish her the best as she completes her studies in Denmark,” Dr. Gordon said.
