Students Make Great Speeches, Debates

Several students earned cash prizes Feb. 25 at the conclusion of the month-long 14th annual Speech and Debate Tournament. Ninety students participated in the tournament dedicated to the memory of Bob Svoboda, who together with his wife, Jean Svoboda, envisioned a tournament devoted to critical thinking and oral communication and made that possible through generous donations. Jean, Bob’s widow, attended the speech and debate final.

The tournament invited students to participate in two events, one focused on the delivery of great speeches and the other on debate. Great Speeches contestants memorized historically significant speeches while those in debate had 10 minutes to debate a variety of topics.

Senior Daniel Wendler from Austin, Texas, received a $500 cash prize for winning the Great Speeches contest with Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Methodist Student Leadership Conference Speech,” which King delivered in 1964 in Lincoln, Neb. Sophomore Chris Kyle from San Diego, Calif., won the debate finals against sophomore Emily Barber from Bakersfield, Calif., on the topic, “The Idea of the Nation-State Has Outlived its Usefulness,” claiming a $500 cash prize. The runners-up won $300.

The judges in the finals included Jeff Bochsler, Bank of America mortgage loan originator, and communication studies professors Greg Spencer, Deborah Dunn, Lesa Stern and Omedi Ochieng. The tournament finals, held in Westmont’s Page Multipurpose Room, included a $100 raffle won by senior Jimmy Wittrock from Mead, Wash., who said he would invest in Westmont’s Debate Club.