UMaine Debate Team Tops Again in Northeast Region Forensics Competition
Contact: Steven Moran, 581-1774, George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — The University of Maine Forensics Team has won its second consecutive Northeast Regional Forensics Tournament, besting nine other universities with reputable speech and debate teams.
The team won first in a field of 10 schools, including Emerson College, New York University, Suffolk University, St. Anselm’s College and Harvard University, according to team captain Steve Moran, a fourth-year political science and history major from New Gloucester. The tournament was March 15 at Suffolk.
Active members of the UMaine Forensics Team include Moran, who is captain and president, and also UMaine Student Government president; vice president James Lyons, a second-year political science and biochemistry double major from Yarmouth; secretary Jennifer Cohen, a second-year political science and women’s studies double major from Sanford; treasurer Joseph Moran, a second-year business marketing major from New Gloucester; and Jay Parrish, Dan Bourgeois-Capozzi, Moira Beale and Jeanne Ellis, all undergraduates from Bangor. Nicole Cloud, a research assistant and lecturer in the Department of Communication and Journalism, is adviser for the team.
Moran says the eight active speech and debate team members prepare for competitions by researching various topics that could be used as subject matter for debates and extemporaneous speaking and presentation skills. In the last year the team competed in seven tournaments held on five weekends.
The team is a young team, having undergone a resurrection in 2004, after several decades of inactivity, according to Moran, who was part of the resurrection in 2004.
Forensics competition helps students develop public speaking, debate and effective presentation skills, Moran says, which are invaluable when students enter job market after graduation. It also improves writing skills, he says.