Eastern Michigan University took fifth overall place in the 2016 National Forensics Association’s Competition that took place at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. EMU students were up against more than 500 competitors from more than 80 teams. Categories students competed in varied from Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism and Poetry Interpretation.
Sami White, a senior from Fishers Indiana won the national championship in After-Dinner Speaking. This category included writing, memorizing and delivering a 10-minute persuasive or informative speech, using humor as a main component to advance their message. Casey Sabella, a senior from Canton Ohio, took sixth place in Extemporaneous Speaking. This category included drawing a question about current events and being allotted 30 minutes to conduct research on the question, then delivering a seven-minute speech on the topic.
Overall in preparation for this competition, twenty-one Eastern students qualified for the national competition by placing sixth of better in at least one of the regular season tournaments in the Midwest. The following students also made it to the quarterfinals in their respective competitions: Juniors Tommy Barker and Jake Daily of Middletown Ohio, senior JuWan Graham of Detroit, senior Rachel Schmidt of Escondido California, and senior Tristin Taylor of Detroit, Michigan.
