Night Before Nationals Showcases Speech and Debate Team

L&C's seventh annual Night Before Nationals event showcases the speech and debate team's talents and skills in front of an enthusiastic campus audience.
Credit: Nina Johnson

Student interviews by Mackenzie Kier BA ʼ26

On March 20, Lewis & Clark’s speech and debate team took center stage for the seventh annual Night Before Nationals, an exhibition event that showcases the team’s talents and skills in front of an enthusiastic campus audience.

Members of L&C's speech and debate team, which is comprised of more than 40 students representing a variety of majors.
Credit: Nina Johnson“This event is valuable to us because, over the next three weeks, our students will be attending national championships in speech and debate,” says Joe Gantt, director of speech and debate and an instructor in rhetoric and media studies. “Instead of speaking in a small classroom to maybe two or three people at a time, our students will be speaking to large groups of people in different rounds of competition.”

Lewis & Clark will be hosting the 2023 Western States Debating Championship for the first time on March 25 and 26. In another first, L&C’s speech and debate team participated in its inaugural international championship tournament in Madrid over winter break.

“Speech and debate has a long history at Lewis & Clark, and this team is among the best—and largest—to ever represent the college,” says Gantt. “This team has set records for the number of events qualified for nationals for the third straight year; nearly 50 students competed in at least one tournament this year. It’s been an exciting year as we’ve returned to in-person competition and branched out to new circuits, formats, and even countries! I look forward to seeing what our students can achieve at nationals.”

An enthusiastic audience cheered on their peers while they showcased their skills in a variety of speech and debate styles.
Credit: Nina JohnsonThis year’s Night Before Nationals featured a speech session, focusing on nine events such as persuasive speaking, poetry and prose interpretation, impromptu speaking, and dramatic interpretation, as well as three sessions featuring different debate styles: British Parliamentary Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and IPDA Debate (a new event for Lewis & Clark).

More than 40 students, representing a variety of majors, are members of L&C’s speech and debate team. We chatted with three of them after their events.

Eden Kenney BA ’23

Major: Sociology and Anthropology
Minor: Rhetoric and Media Studies
Event: Informative Speaking

What do you enjoy about being on the team?

Oh, my gosh, there’s so much! First and foremost, my closest friends in the world are people I met through speech and debate. Even though we’re a really big team, we’re made up of truly wonderful people, and getting to be their teammate is really special. In terms of the activity itself, I think the thing I enjoy the most is being able to stand up and move people emotionally, just by talking to them. I take pride in what I do, the speeches I’ve written, and the fact that I really believe in what I say. Just getting to connect with people in person is really special and something I will never take for granted.

What’s unique about speech and debate at L&C?

We are a newer “big program.” Our program has been here for years and years, but it hasn’t been a big speech program until the past two years. That, in and of itself, has really given us the opportunity to build a fresh, new big team culture here, whereas other teams with the same amount of people may have really ingrained ways of doing things. Also, I think just the fact that we’re from the Pacific Northwest, from Portland, gives us a different perspective than a lot of other big teams, most of which are in the South and Midwest. I think coming from the kind of culture we have at Lewis & Clark—and the things we learn about in our classes and the kinds of ideas we study here—really contributes to making our team truly unique.

Syl Knauss BA ’24

Major: Sociology and Anthropology
Minor: Religious Studies
Event: Dramatic Interpretation

What do you enjoy about being on the team?

My friends. The community around it is really awesome. I feel like it gives me an outlet to say things that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to say otherwise. It’s important to me to feel like the things that I have to say matter and that I can connect to people, when maybe that is something that I’ve struggled with in the past. Speaking is hard. Speaking is hard for everybody. But to feel like you can still connect to people even when that is your reality is really important.

What’s unique about speech and debate at L&C?

We’re a team that takes what we do very vigorously and seriously—kind of like a sports team, only we don’t do sports. Also, I think our geographic location definitely sets us apart from a lot of the other teams on the circuit. As people who are in the Pacific Northwest, we sometimes travel really long distances to unfamiliar climates and territories in order to go to tournaments. And so people aren’t really ever entirely sure what to expect from us. But I also think that that gives us a good opportunity to make speech what we want it to be, and to play a part in reimagining the role that speech can play in people’s lives and also what it can give society in the future.

Josie Stenzel BA ’24

Majors: History and Classics
Minor: Dance
Event: Prose Interpretation

What do you enjoy about being on the team?

I really love the community on the speech and debate team. We travel together, we practice together, we help each other with our speeches, and a lot of us hang out outside of our speech tournaments. I think the number one reason I do it is to see the people here—and also the people at other schools that I’ve met through tournaments across the country.

What’s unique about speech and debate at L&C?

We do a really good job of balancing our lives. We do speech, but we also focus a lot on school work, and all of us are involved in extracurriculars or working. We’re just a chill and goofy team—we have a relaxed kind of atmosphere. Some teams are really intense, which maybe works for them, but it wouldn’t work for me. I like this team a lot.

Speech and Debate