Southeastern Speech and Debate Association (SSDA) members Katherine Hodge, Zachary Covington, Brady Robison and Jenna Gardner recently competed at the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Forensics Association (OIFA) State Tournament  held Feb. 22 – 26.

Hodge and Covington finished first and second, respectively, in International Public Debate Association (IPDA).

Robison and Gardner also competed in IPDA.

The OIFA hosted a hybrid tournament featuring 11 individual preparation and limited preparation events and IPDA. The IPDA-sponsored debate rounds took place on Saturday, Feb. 26. The National Individual Events tournament began Tuesday, Feb. 22 with judging taking place asynchronously. All event winners along with individual speaker awards, top competitors in the state of Oklahoma and the overall sweepstakes winner were announced on Saturday evening during the tournament awards ceremony.

Dr. Randy Clark, associate professor of communication studies and speech and debate advisor, said, “The team has been working and preparing very hard to make an impressive showing at this season’s state tournament. All of our competitors placed and we are very happy for those who did. We’ll continue to keep working hard, preparing the Southeastern way so that every member of our team is vying for a finals top 3 finish.”

Both Hodge and Covington finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in Top Speaker Awards. Dr. Clark was proud of what the team was able to accomplish. “I’m very proud of the team and their showing. Our freshman gained a remarkable amount of experience this weekend and a tremendous amount of respect from other competitors and other coaches from the more established programs. Both Hodge and Covington definitely enjoyed the experience.”

SSDA’s final competitive tournament of the season was the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament, Wednesday, March 9 through Saturday, March 13 held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL.

To learn more about Southeastern’s intercollegiate forensics program and the SSDA tournament schedule visit the Department of Art, Communication and Theatre website http://homepages.se.edu/comm or contact Dr. Clark at [email protected] or extension 2556.