CORVALLIS - Oregon State University's Forensics Team continued its reign as one of the nation's top collegiate speech teams with a standout performance at the Great Alaska Speakout.

Renee Rider, an OSU senior from Phoenix, Ariz., and Kathy LaVeine, a sophomore from Tigard, made it to the semifinal round of the Anchorage tournament and placed in the top four.

"This competition featured the top 10 teams in the nation in parliamentary debate," said Trischa Knapp, OSU director of forensics and assistant professor of speech communication. "This is a most impressive finish for the team, since it will make the OSU speech team one of the early season favorites."

Among the competitors were Salem's Willamette University, Texas Tech and California's Point Loma Nazarene.

Among the topics of debate were legalization of marijuana for medical use and English as the official language for government.

Both Rider, a wildlife science major, and LaVeine, a speech communication major, are forensics veterans who traveled with the OSU team last spring to the International Forensics Association Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. In Lisbon, Rider placed third in parliamentary debate and fifth in informative speaking and LaVeine made it to the semifinals in impromptu speaking.

 

Source: 

Trischa Knapp, 541-737-5392

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