Speech Team Wins National Forensic Contest

April 23, 2019

They have done it again. This week, Bradley University Speech Team won the National Forensic Association (NFA) contest held in California.
 
This championship brings Bradley's total to 42 team national championships and 160 individual national titles.  The top five teams at NFA were 5) 298.5 -- Northwestern, 4) 410.5 -- Ball State, 3) 736 -- UT-Austin , 2) 782.5 -- Western Kentucky and 1) 863 -- Bradley University. 

According to the Associated Press, the Bradley Speech Team is the most successful collegiate forensics program in the country as well as the most successful collegiate team in any capacity, including sports.  The Chicago Sun-Times calls the team "an intercollegiate legacy with more championship team titles than the Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA, and Indiana basketball teams combined."

The University will be celebrating the team's national win on Friday, April 26 at 2 p.m. at the Caterpillar Global Communications Center on campus.  The community and the media are invited to attend. 

Learn more about the program's history.

Here are the individual team member awards:
Joshua  Beckles 1st in Duo Interpretation (with Trijae Johnson); 2nd in Duo Interpretation (with Cassie Edlund); 4th in Poetry Interpretation Political Science Sophomore
Cassie Edlund 4th in Individual Sweepstakes; 2nd in Duo Interpretation (with Joshua Beckles) Community Wellness Junior
Jack Ellis 6th in After Dinner Speaking; 12th in Individual Sweepstakes;  Management and Leadership Sennior
Melissa Fuentes 13th in Individual Sweepstakes; 3rd in Impromptu Speaking Political Science Junior
Brenna Fuhr 8th in Individual Sweepstakes; 4th in Persuasive Speaking Creative Writing Senior
Trijae Johnson 1st in Program Oral Interpretation; and 1st in Duo Interpretation (with Joshua Beckles); 3rd in Poetry Interpretation; 6th in Dramatic Interpretation Public Relations Junior
Megan  Magee 3rd in Individual Sweepstakes; 4th in Program Oral Interpretation; 5th in Poetry Interpretation; 3rd in Prose Interpretation Television Arts Senior
Emily Trader 3rd in Persuasive Speaking; 3rd in Program Oral Interpretation World Languages and Cultures

Sophomore

The following students also competed at the NFA event:
Natalie  Aiken COM - Public Relations Junior
Jessica Archambeau Political Science First-year
Laura  Belec Political Science Junior
Chelsea Cabanada Psychology Junior
Shaun Cesario Mathematics Junior
Thomas Duerr Marketing Sophomore
Alexandra Fosburgh Political Science First-year
Matt Friedhoff Senior
Rachel Greene Graphic Design Sophomore
Lance Heffner English Junior
Greg  Huber Human Resource Management Senior
Carly Huff Political Science Sophomore
Matthew Johnson Organizational Communication Junior
Alexis Johnson Studio Art - Drawing First-year
Jordan Killion Actuarial Science - Business Sophomore
Jahne Manifold Chemistry First-year
John Marsh Advertising First-year
Haleemah Na'Allah Political Science Sophomore
Tasneem Naffakh Accounting Sophomore
Ryan O'Connor Chemistry First-year
Alejandro Perez Organizational Communication Junior
Lily Pieper Literary Studies First-year
Kyle Powers Senior
Jacob  Quirk Organizational Communication Junior
Jacob Sanders Organizational Communication Junior
Connor Sears Political Science First-year
Bobby Smid Psychology First-year
Caroline Todd Journalism Sophomore
Danielle Watson Pre-Business First-year
Daniel Zawadzki International Studies Sophomore