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| Brock & Patrick pose under the arch at ISU with their PKD trophies |
Idaho State Seniors, Patrick Loftus
(Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) and Brock Sondrup (Idaho Falls, Idaho) weathered a snow
emergency and won the Pi Kappa Delta National Championship in British
Parliamentary Debate, bringing home ISU’s first ever National Championship in
debate. The team also tied with each other for 4th place speaker
awards. Loftus and Sondrup traveled with two coaches and three other members of
the James M. & Sharon E. Rupp Debate society to Ohio University to compete
in the tournament.
Upon arrival in Ohio, there was
little to no snow on the ground. As the team drove to their hotel about an hour
from the Columbus airport, the snow began to fall on Wednesday March 4, 2015. By
evening, there was enough snow in Athens County, Ohio that tournament officials
were concerned about their ability to proceed with the competition at Ohio
University. As the national tournament committee began cancelling events for
that day, they promised to reevaluate the situation the next morning. Snow
continued to fall overnight.
By 10 am, Athens County had
declared a Level 3 snow emergency making it illegal to drive on the roads and
Ohio University had closed its campus for the day. The ISU debate team was
staying in nearby Hocking County which had declared a Level 2 snow emergency. This
meant that the team could leave to hotel to seek out food and other
necessities, such as ice scrapers for the rental cars. Nonetheless, they were
unable to compete, the tournament was cancelled, and the Idaho State Debate
team was forced to wait out the snow. Late Thursday, the team received good
news. It appeared that the debates would begin the next morning.
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| Brock Sondrup debates at Ohio University |
Loftus and Sondrup, competed for
three days culminating in receiving the First Place, Top Superior Award in
British Parliamentary debate from the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament. They also were recognized as tied for fourth
place speaker awards. British Parliamentary debate is team debate where four
teams from different schools compete in a single round. The teams are then
ranked from 1st place to 4th place and points are
assigned. Loftus and Sondrup were ranked 1st in 75% of their
debates. Tristin Herup-Wheeler (Kuna, Idaho), Aurora Zantman (Kuna, Idaho), and
Mike Eyre (Boise, Idaho) also traveled to Ohio.
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| Patrick Loftus debates at Ohio University |
Examples of topics included: This
house believes a cut in military spending is necessary to fund social programs;
This house would remove all nonmedical exemptions for vaccinations; This house
supports President Obama’s executive action on immigration. Debaters must be
prepared to argue both sides of any topic. Topics are usually drawn from
current events and recent news stories. Teams are assigned a position in the
debate so they practice advocating for ideas they may agree or disagree with. The
ability to debate both sides of a topic improves critical thinking skills and
trains debaters to thoughtfully engage in public dialogue.
The
tournament was hosted by the Pi Kappa Delta (PKD) debate honors society. The
oldest national collegiate forensics organization, PKD is celebrating its
hundredth anniversary this year. The organization also sponsored the first
national tournament. With more than 80,000 alumni, the PKD national tournament sponsored
513 entries in 13 different kinds of debate this year.
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| Back Row: Mike Eyre Front Row (left to right): Brock Sondrup, Patrick Loftus, Aurora Zantman, Tristin Herup-Wheeler |
According to Scott Jensen, the National
Tournament director, PKD welcomed “75 schools from 30 states. The well over
2100 entries in 23 different events makes this a magnificent comprehensive
forensic experience for all the nearly 800 students, educators, and critics . .
. performing, advocating, speaking, and educating.” Jensen also noted, “The comprehensiveness of
this tournament, combined with the unique approach that celebrates egalitarian
success, as well as exceptional performance, makes Pi Kappa Delta’s biennial
tournament the best thing in our activity.”
The tournament host, Dan West from
Ohio University, said “This year’s impressive collection of more than 2000
event entries makes this both the largest tournament in the U.S. for the
2014-2015 competitive season and the
largest Pi Kappa Delta conference tournament to run in recent memory.”
Sondrup & Loftus receive their awards at PKD
Director of the James M. &
Sharon E. Rupp Debate Society, Sarah Partlow Lefevre said, “We’ve placed as
high as third at CEDA Nationals in 2007. But, to my knowledge, the PKD win is
our first ever national title.” She continued, “We are incredibly lucky to have
such great success in our first year competing in British Parliamentary
Debate.”
Partlow Lefevre believes the
success is due to the hard work and talent of the debaters with a little bit of
luck thrown in. “They are learning advocacy skills that will last long past
graduation. . . . But, winning a tournament also involves an element of chance,”
she said, “you have to have the right topics on the right sides, ones the
debaters feel comfortable defending. The
positions assigned in debates and who the opponents are in particular debates
also influence outcomes.”
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| Sondrup and Loftus receive their awards at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament awards ceremony. |
Both members of the winning team plan
to graduate in May. Brock Sondrup’s degree will be in Communication, Media, and
Persuasion. He will take a year and work while he decides between law school
and graduate school. Patrick Loftus is finishing a General Studies degree and
has been accepted to dental school. He will start at Midwestern University's
Glendale Campus after spending the summer with his family.
According to Sondrup, “Debate has
provided an opportunity for me to compete and win. But, more importantly, it
has allowed me to develop advocacy skills that I can use in my future career.” He
believes, “It is very cool to be able to say I won my last debate. Not many
debaters can say that.”
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| Sondrup and Loftus consult during a debate at PKD Nationals. |
