3/5/12
The Randolph-Macon College
Franklin Debating Society successfully defended its Collegiate Forensic Association (CFA) championship during a tournament that took place March 2-3, 2012. R-MC won both the spring tournament in Ocean City, Maryland and the Welch-Strine Cup for top school for the season.
Below are the impressive results:
Crystal Thomas ’13 1st Place Parliamentary Debate Team
1st Place Parliamentary Debate Speaker
Year-Long Best Parliamentary Debater (tied with Haley Williamson ’13)
1st Place Extemporaneous Speaking
Year-Long Best Extemporaneous Speaking
3rd Place Informative Speaking
Year-Long Best Informative Speaking
2nd Place Communication Analysis
Year-Long Best Communication Analysis
Year-Long Runner-Up in Prose Interpretation
Year-Long Runner-Up in Dramatic Duo
3rd Place Pentathlon
Hayley Williamson ’13 1st Place Parliamentary Debate Team
2nd Place Parliamentary Debate Speaker
Year-Long Best Parliamentary Debater (tied with Crystal Thomas ’13)
2nd Place Impromptu Speaking
Year-Long Runner-Up in Impromptu Speaking
Year-Long Runner-Up in Persuasive Speaking
5th Place Dramatic Interpretation
Year-Long Runner-Up in Dramatic Duo
5th Place Pentathlon
Ethan Franz ’12 3rd Place Lincoln-Douglas Debater
Year-Long Runner-Up in Lincoln-Douglas Debate
3rd Place Impromptu Speaking
Year-Long Best Impromptu Speaking
2nd Place Poetry Interpretation
Year-Long Best Poetry Interpretation
6th Place Pentathlon
Sean Smith ’13 1st Place Prose Interpretation
Year-Long Best Prose Interpretation
Matt Launderville ’13 2nd Place Parliamentary Debate
5th Place Parliamentary Debate Speaker
1st Place Communication Analysis
Year-Long Runner-Up in Communication Analysis
Raymond Ruybe ’13 2nd Place Parliamentary Debate
6th Place Parliamentary Debate Speaker
5th Place Communication Analysis
Mikhaila Calice ’15 3rd Place Parliamentary Debate
3rd Place Dramatic Interpretation
Year-Long Best Dramatic Interpretation
Jamie Ramsey ’15 3rd Place Parliamentary Debate
Other team members,
Michelle Nieporte ’13,
Tim Johnson ’13,
Alex Burgess ’14, and
Mark Trent ’15, earned points toward the school’s 157-point total, which just nosed out UNC-Charlotte for the tournament title. For the year, R-MC was significantly ahead of all others in the league.
The 2012 Collegiate Forensics Association consisted of 22 schools from nine states. The schools are a diverse group of state institutions, private colleges/universities, historically Black universities and community colleges.
Communication Studies Professor John Mingus prepared R-MC students for competition in the interpretation and public-speaking events and coached on-site. R-MC
English and Communication Studies Professor and CFA President Ted Sheckels ran the tournaments. Sheckels also serves as the director of speaking for the
Higgins Academic Center.
The following Randolph-Macon alumni also lent their support at the Ocean City tournament:
Dave Dickerson ’91,
Jessica Kuehn ’08,
Troy Carter ’08,
Catherine Noyes ’09,
Becky Johnsen ’10 and
Robert Thomas ’11. At earlier tournaments, the R-MC team also had help from
Mike Bradenham ’01,
Samantha Bradshaw ’10 and
Jessee Perry ’11.
“Our Franklin Debating Society students find their academic homes in a wide variety of departments,” says Sheckels, “so they very much do represent Randolph-Macon as a whole. They deserve applause for an excellent season.”
Franklin Debating Society members compete intercollegiately in debate and a range of forensics activities.