WKU Forensic Team Focused On National, International Titles

March 06, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - With a strong group of seniors, Western Kentucky University’s award-winning speech and debate teams begin their quest for national and international titles later this month.

“I feel like we have the best team and the best students, including an incredible senior class that may be among the best ever at WKU,” said Judy Woodring, director of the WKU Forensic Team. “We’ll just have to see what happens because after seeing the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, I’m not going to predict anything.”

Woodring will predict, however, that WKU team members will be well-prepared and focused for the upcoming tournaments. “This is probably the best team with the hardest working students we’ve had here in a long time,” she said.

In 2007, WKU completed its fourth sweep of major national and international speech and debate titles in five years. So far this season, WKU has won its 18th consecutive Kentucky Forensic Association championship and has qualified nearly all of its team members for national tournaments.

Eight WKU team members will travel to London, England, March 15-22 for the International Forensic Association tournament. Winning the school’s ninth IFA championship in 10 years won’t be easy, Woodring said, because George Mason University will be taking its entire team to London. “We may not have the numbers to win, but I still feel like we’ll do well,” she said.

WKU debaters will travel to Tacoma, Wash., for the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence on March 15-16 and then to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the National Parliamentary Debate Association tournament March 27-30. WKU won the NPDA championship in 2007.

WKU will seek its fifth American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament in six years on April 5-7 in Austin, Texas.

The team will wrap up the 2007-08 season at the National Forensic Association National Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Last year, WKU won its sixth NFA championship in debate and its fourth NFA title in individual events.

“With Tennessee State University hosting the NFA this year, we’ll be competing close to home,” Woodring said. “That means our students, especially our seniors, will have an opportunity for their friends, family members and WKU administrators to come watch them compete.”
               
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Judy Woodring at (270) 745-6340.