The Bower Aly High School Speech and Debate Tournament begins Thursday and continues through Saturday, showcasing 400 students from 35 high schools in Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho.
The tournament, which is the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, is planned and staffed by members of the University forensics team. Team President Amy Bullock is the tournament’s student director.
The tournament is named after Bower Aly, who taught rhetoric and speech at the University from 1956-1968.
Director of Forensics David Frank said the tournament, and debate itself, is “a wonderful educational experience to sponsor and cultivate the free expression of ideas” and helps students speak eloquently and learn about the “expression of the poetic and aesthetic side of speech.”
“It offers high school students many opportunities to conduct research and present speeches on the key issues of the day,” Frank said.
Competition is divided into three debate and eight speech categories, collectively called forensics, with three debate and eight speech events. Students typically compete in two or three different events. The top 16 entries from debate and top seven from speech move on to Saturday’s elimination rounds. A sweepstakes trophy is awarded to the school with the most points.
Bower Aly is significant to the high school competitors because of the size and diversity of the competition, University forensics coach Aaron Donaldson said.
“It is seen by students to be one of the more competitive tournaments in the region,” Donaldson said. “It is not uncommon to see people who do well here qualify for state or even go on to nationals. It’s a very large tournament, so you get to see many teams you don’t normally see on the high school circuit.”
Sprague High School Director of Forensics Mike Curry said the competition is important because it gives participants the opportunity to compete against a variety of different students before heading to qualifying tournaments.
“Generally, it’s acknowledged as the final major competition before individual districts have their OSAA State Tournament qualifiers, as well as each (National Forensic League) district holding their national tournament qualifiers,” Curry said. “This tournament offers perhaps the last chance for students to gauge where they rank in the state prior to our version of playoffs.”
Another advantage is that high school students get the chance to be judged by current members of the University forensics team and former competitors, giving them a different perspective on their speaking, Donaldson said.
“They get a more educated judge pool,” Donaldson said. “They can be judged by people who are ranked in the top 50 in the United States.”
Judging and volunteering in the tournament teaches University forensics team members to understand the judges’ perspective on events, Bullock said.
“Most of us were high school debaters at one point, so it’s great to be on the other side of the ballot,” Bullock said.
University forensics team member Matt Rose agreed that judging is rewarding to both the high school and college competitors.
“Judging is always a great experience,” Rose said. “It really makes you a better competitor by far to figure (out) how the debate round shaped up the way it did. Knowing that you’re helping young high school kids (is also a good feeling).”
Four scholarships are offered at Bower Aly. One is a $1,000 scholarship and invitation for a high school senior to compete on the University forensics team their freshman year. The other three are scholarships to the Oregon Debate Institute at the University, the only summer debate camp in the state.
The University forensics team’s prestige has greatly increased recently, and both Bower Aly and the Oregon Debate Institute help to attract talented debaters from across the state and “more new people who competed in high school and want to continue in college,” Donaldson said.
Freshman forensics team member Hank Fields received the senior scholarship last year. He said it was a big incentive to attend the University.
“I was trying to decide my school right at this time last year,” Fields said. “That was what pushed me over the edge.”
Since the tournament is extremely busy and has so many events at once, nearly all conference rooms are used to facilitate the competition.
“It’s rare to find a campus that will be so accommodating, and that means a lot to us,” Donaldson said.
The University forensics team currently has 35 members, with eight ranked in the top 50 in the nation. The team will next travel to the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence on March 14 and is one of three schools that qualified with the maximum of four teams.
High school debate teams to compete at UO
Daily Emerald
February 20, 2008
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