This year, the Bradley speech team is already off to a great start. In its first competition at the Mid-America Forensic League Iowa Swing Competition, the team placed first bringing home the win and a trophy.
The team dedicates a large amount of time to perfect its pieces prior to each competition with the help of their coaches, Director of Forensics Dan Smith, and Assistant Director Tyler Billman, as well as many other volunteers and alumni.
Because of this dedication, both senior Vanessa Carranza and secretary of the team junior Maddie Wilson said the win was not a surprise.
“Personally, I spent at least 15 hours this week practicing, memorizing and coaching in preparation for the competition,” Carranza said.
Team members not only spend time with their coaches and preparing individually, but also spend a large amount of time critiquing each other as well.
The team faced challenges, not only because of “opening night jitters,” but also because some larger schools brought many more competitors in each category. However, the team rose to the challenge.
“It was a very good win to have as well, since we brought such a small group to Iowa,” Wilson said. “Some of the other schools had almost double the amount of events, but we were all able to step up and get our season off to a great start.”
Wilson also said the team has competitions almost every weekend of the semester. This past weekend Bradley co-hosted a competition with Illinois State University, which Wilson said was “a great experience.”
Each speech competition consists of three categories, Limited Preparation, Public Address and Interpretation.
In Limited Preparation, each competitor is given a subject with a limited time to write, memorize and prepare a speech on the day of the competition.
Public Address is much like some of the speeches students are asked to write in COM 103, such as informative or persuasive speeches.
Interpretation includes performing parts of plays, short stories, documentaries and the like.
Wilson said the team is confident this season will be a successful one with old members returning and a great group of dedicated new members bringing their talents.
The team’s season will end with the 61st Annual LE Norton Memorial Tournament Nov. 8 to 9 hosted here on campus. The team invites anyone interested in watching a practice or wanting more information to stop by the practice suite on the second floor of the Global Communications Center.
