Members of Randolph-Macon College’s Franklin Debating Society represented the college well at the Collegiate Forensic Association (CFA) fall tournament at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. At the tournament, held November 2-3, 2018, RMC finished first, triumphing by a sizeable margin.

“This was a strong team effort, and we couldn’t be prouder,” says Communication Studies and English Professor Ted Sheckels, who coaches the Franklin Debating Society.

Communication Studies Professor Ruth Beerman, who also coaches the Society, says, “Our students made significant improvements from the first tournament to this one. This victory is a testament to the students’ hard work and dedication.”

The following students placed at the tournament:

Amanda Baumgartner ’21 was 2nd in Prose Interpretation, 1st in Dramatic Interpretation and 2nd in Persuasive.

Brianna Ciuffo ’19 was 4th in Prose Interpretation, 3rd in Dramatic Duo and 6th in Parliamentary Debate.

Matthew DeLancey ’21 was 2nd in Extemporaneous.

Casey Dossat ’20 was 3rd in Humorous and 3rd in Communication Analysis.

Sommer Jordan ’19 was 4th in Poetry Interpretation and 5th in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

Caroline Kouneski ’19 was 1st in Declamation, 5th in Informative, 2nd in Communication Analysis, 4th in Extemporaneous, 2nd in Parliamentary Debate, and 1st in Pentathlon (five events in three different categories).

Bridget Maas ’20 was 2nd in Poetry Interpretation, 5th in Prose Interpretation, 3rd in Dramatic Duo, 5th in Declamation, and 6th in Parliamentary Debate.

Emma Reilly ’22 was 4th in Informative, 3rd in Persuasive and 2nd in Parliamentary Debate.

A Team Effort
All members of the Franklin Debating Society, including new members Hannah Gutzwiller ’22, Lorin Johnson ’20 and Brianna Tsitsera ’22, contributed points toward RMC’s First Place Sweepstakes win. This award goes to the college or university that accumulates the most collective points as an entire squad, including performances during preliminary rounds and placements in the final rounds.

Up Next
The Franklin Debating Society’s next event will be held November 30 – December 1, 2018 when they host the CFA College Invitational Tournament on campus.

“We encourage the RMC community to join us as audience members,” says Beerman. “You can see the hard work our students put into their events.” For more information about the CFA College Invitational Tournament, please contact Beerman at RuthBeerman@rmc.edu.

The Franklin Debating Society
The Franklin Debating Society competes in the Collegiate Forensics Association (CFA) circuit.

Students compete in a variety of events, including debate and forensics. Debate includes both parliamentary debate and Lincoln-Douglas. Forensics events include: informative speaking, persuasive speaking, after dinner speaking, impromptu speaking, extemporaneous speaking, communication analysis, declamation, poetry interpretation, prose interpretation, single dramatic interpretation, and duo dramatic interpretation.