R-MC Debate Sweeps Montreal Tournament
by Aaron Smith ‘10
Staff Writer··································
Randolph-Macon students, we are a competitive bunch. Be it in the classroom, on the field, or in the gym, we are always looking to compete against and defeat students at rival institutions. We are proud of our accomplishments, and we always celebrate them “in style.”
However, there is one group of students who has chosen to turn up the heat of competition at Macon. The fine minds of the Franklin Debate Society wield their words as weapons, and have the ability to provide thoughtful and foolproof commentary on nearly any subject, or at least they are very good at lying. They carry their vast wealth of knowledge with them against any opponent, be it the well known rivals of Hamden-Sydney, or the renowned opponents of the British Debaters. Most recently the Franklin Debate Society has used its superior intellect to conquer Canada.
Okay, so they did not conquer Canada, referred to as the “Great White North” by master debater, senior Troy Carter. That would simply be too great a task even for these students to accomplish in just a weekend, although it sounds like Carter would like to try some day. They did, however, take home Randolph-Macon’s first ever 1st place overall finish in the Collegiate Forensic Association’s Winter Tournament, held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
What’s more, they did not only place 1st overall, the Randolph-Macon debaters effectively leveled the competition, crushing the dreams of the many other “inferior teams,” as they have been referred to by an anonymous source. In fact, I would not be surprised if, before long, the Collegiate Forensic Association ceases to hold this debate, and instead invites debate teams from across the world to simply watch our students speak, just to see how it is done.
In the debate, compiling a 5-0 record and coming in 1st place was a team consisting of the Yellow Jacket’s very own Copy Editor, senior Jessica Kuehn and Editor-In-Chief, junior Catherine Noyes. Self titled team “Sexbombastic” (it should be noted that this is the only team that has given itself a name, and that James has not claimed anything to do with it up to this point), our former Editor-In-Chief, junior James Murray, and a lowly staff writer like myself, senior Troy Carter came in 2nd with a record of 4-1. And of course, coming in 3rd were sophomore Jonathan Schmeelk and freshmen Jessee Perry, also a staff writer for the Yellow Jacket, with a 4-1 record. As if that was not enough, the debaters also brought home the top four individual debater awards, with Kuehn, Murray, Carter, and Noyes receiving 1st- 4th respectively.
Those competitors thinking that the Macon student population consists only of extremely intelligent debaters, and had designs on winning the tournament through a domination of the Forensics competition were in for an unpleasant surprise. Here at Macon, not only are we intelligent, but we have learned to develop our wit and our delivery, something that can no doubt be attributed to those feared class periods were we perhaps have not prepared as well as we should have.
In extemporaneous speaking, Kuehn continued to exhort her dominance over the competition, coming in first. Jonathan Schmeelk also chipped in with a respectable fifth place. The mayhem would continue in impromptu speaking with Kuehn snagging second, Noyes snatching fifth, and Schmeelk once again contributing with a very excellent sixth place.
Macon would continue to rack up the points in persuasive speaking with sophomore Nicole Smith, whose voice I’ve been told conjures images of “warm maple syrup” in judges minds, commanded third place, with Noyes grabbing fourth. These fine young women would stand side by side again in the next competition, informative speaking, with Smith receiving fifth and Noyes sixth.
Smith would continue to rake in the forensics awards with third in the oral interpretation of poetry category. Murray and our former News Editor, Junior Rachel Avirom, would join Smith in receiving awards for their poetic talents with a fourth place and sixth place finish respectively. Murray and Avirom would also present a rather commendable performance in the dramatic duo competition, pulling in a second place finish.
To put it simply, Randolph-Macon owned the competition. To place their success in more common terms, our debater’s performance would be comparable to the recently ended season of the New England Patriots, if they had won the Super bowl. Needless to say, should you see any of these champions wandering around campus, please stop them and commend them on their superb representation of all of us, and themselves, to the various contestants, and for putting the fear back in Canada.
Back to Top