Penn debaters take national honors

The Penn Speech and Debate Team can certainly talk the talk. In fact, team members talked their way against the top five debate teams in the country last weekend at the National Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich. The contest was the second national competition of the season. Eighty teams met from April 15-19 to compete in events such as extemporaneous, impromptu and informative speaking. The Penn team sent six competitors to the event -- which features several categories of individual and team speech and debate -- and placed fourth in the debate category for the first time in the team's history, while finishing 10th overall. Individually, team members also fared well. Western Kentucky University won top honors in the debate category, followed by Ohio State and Creighton universities. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, a one-on-one competition on the topic of government regulation of electronic communication, Wharton sophomore Jay Haverty came in fifth and College freshman Scott Pollack placed ninth. In another category, impromptu speaking, competitors are given seven minutes to prepare and speak on a given quotation. Wharton senior Jason Auerbach finished 13th in the nation. Auerbach also placed nationally at the Individual Events National Tournament, held earlier this month in Tuscaloosa, Ala. At that competition, Auerbach also placed 13th in the nation for impromptu speaking and seventh for extemporaneous speaking. In this event, students have 30 minutes to write and prepare a seven-minute memorized speech responding to a question given on a current event. Competitors are allowed to bring in files full of recent newspaper clippings but have no idea what their question will be ahead of time. In this competition, Auerbach was asked if the closing of banks in Indonesia will help ease the country's national debt. "'Extemp' is definitely my favorite event," Auerbach said. "You really have to organize your thoughts in a quick manner." The other big debate event of the season was the Pennsylvania State Championships, held in February at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. There, College junior Jennie Huang won the state championship in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate. After such a rewarding season, the Penn debaters are already looking ahead to next year's competitions. "While losing two extremely successful seniors will be tough, we are looking forward to an even more competitive and award-winning squad next year," said Pollack, who will take over as the team's president in the fall. The Speech and Debate Team is a student-run organization that competes year-round. Practices are held weekly from October to April.