Speech & Debate

Five student groups presented their research at the Undergraduate Learning Community and Research Symposium Friday. “It’s very clear to me that what used to be done at the graduate level is now being done at the undergraduate level and with significant excellence,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. Those interesting findings cover everything from heart rates to something called Ugly Gerry.

GCU’s Speech and Debate teams are all about expressing views. There’s no shortage of that in the year leading to the presidential election — and during the week impeachment hearings are televised. The difference is the five members of Speech and Debate shared how to express those views with respect and grace, part of the GCU’s yearlong initiative on civil discourse.

Among 30 speech and debate teams, GCU finished runner-up to Concordia University of Irvine, Calif., on Sunday at the Sunset Cliffs Classic Tournament at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Jess Kennedy, Tommee Gleason and Xanthia Clow led the speech team. Kennedy won two events in the novice division and was named the second-ranked speaker of the tournament. Gleason clamed a pair of third-place finishes and reached the finals in two other events and Clow placed third in two events. Two debate pairs (Matthew Calderwood-Grace Laidlaw and Ben Kuykendall-Joseph-Madere) advanced to the top eight.