The UK Speech and Debate Team is off to a great start for the 2017-2018 year with a seventh-place placement at WKU’s Fall Fiesta Tournament in September.

The team has ranked top 10 for the past three years in their competitions and are looking to keep improving. Last year, they ranked fifth in the nation and ninth overall in speech events. At nationals, four of their members were honored as top 10 speakers in the nation in their respective events. Since their launch six years ago, the team has won almost 1,000 awards.

The team competes in four kinds of debate and 11 speech events. They typically focus on issues such as diversity, education and social advocacy. They also focus on tight-knit teamwork within the group.

“The UK Speech and Debate team has provided me with both an accepting environment as well as an entire new group of friends,” freshman member Ashley Price said. “This team has helped me to feel more welcome on campus. It has also helped me to expand my knowledge and my ability to form both educated opinions and arguments.”

Senior Megan Wagner said participating has made her consider different viewpoints, as well as better understand her own.

“This team is always challenging me to think in new ways,” she said.

Speech and Debate currently has 11 members from six different colleges on campus. In early September, they welcomed new members from Kentucky, Texas and Oklahoma. The new members include two freshmen and a transfer student.

“Whether new or old, all of our members are extremely dedicated and have a passion for education and advocacy,” Rachel Brase, Vice President of UK Speech and Debate Team, said.

“The biggest way (the team) has helped me academically is to make me a quicker thinker and make it easier to streamline my thoughts for discussions and essays,” Brase said. “It’s given me an empathy and understanding of myself and others that I didn’t have before and the self-confidence to not avoid difficult conversations. The team has also reminded me of how important every person is and how powerful a voice can be.”

Brase said the team’s goals this year are to move up in national rankings as a team. She hopes to see an overall ranking of eighth place. She also said they are trying to focus on community outreach as a group and hope to accumulate 200 hours of community service as a way of giving back to those who have helped and supported them.

“The University of Kentucky Speech and Debate team has given me the opportunity to grow both as a scholar and an individual,” UK Speech and Debate Team President Matt Karijolic said. “My educational journey has been enriched because of them. More importantly though, it gave me a family that reminded me of how proud I am to call UK my Old Kentucky Home.”

For more information, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and at https://www.ukforensics.com/.