Cornell Teams Return to In-Person Competition
Policy, Worlds, and Speech each traveled to compete in the month of March
Cornell Speech and Debate teams have returned to in-person competition in glowing fashion. In the past month, students have traveled outside Ithaca to compete. The first team to launch this round of return to in-person date was the Cornell Policy Team. The squad traveled to West Virginia in early March, officially returning to in-person debate.
The following weekend, the Cornell Worlds Team traveled to Nashville, Tennessee. 5 teams and 4 judges competed in the Vanderbilt IV for a strong showing. Novice teams Jonathan Stowlow and Kyra Teo as well as Isabel Orlando and Willow Brawley reached the semifinals, with 3 Cornell speakers finishing as top 10 novice speakers. Amaar Jeyasothy and Dylan Young broke in the Open category. Student judges also did particularly well, with Eli Pallrand judging quarterfinals and Meg Kandarpa judging finals! The Worlds team is hoping to attend at least 2 more in person tournaments before the end of the semester.
Simultaneously, the Cornell Speech Team traveled to Florida to compete in the Pi Kappa Delta National Competition in Florida. After a brief visit to the Beach, the 7 students in attendance had a strong showing. A designation of Excellent (top 30% of tournament) were attained by Cornell students in Informative, Student Congress, Broadcast Journalism, Communication Analysis, and Extemporaneous Speaking. Additionally, two students were recognized as Superior (top 10%) in Impromptu. Callie McQuilkin was recognized as National Champion in Broadcast Journalism and second place in Extemporaneous Speaking. Ben Feldman placed 2nd overall in Student Congress and was chosen to showcase Extemporaneous Speaking.
A special shoutout goes to Ibe, the Director of Worlds Debate, and MacLain, the Director of Speech, for traveling to their first large in-person tournament with the Cornell Speech and Debate Program.
