Speech Competitors Place 14th in National Tournament

Apr 06, 2011

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
DR. FRED STERNHAGEN, director of Forensics,
Communication Studies and Theatre Art 
(218) 299-3731
AMY KELLY, Media Relations director
(218) 299-3642

   CONCORDIA SPEECH COMPETITORS PLACE
    14th AT NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
  
      Concordia College speech competitors placed 14th in the overall school competition at the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events tournament hosted April 2-4 by the University of Nebraska Kearney. A total of 84 institutions qualified students for the national tournament. Twelve Concordia students qualified for the national tournament and three students won individual awards.
      Senior Stephanie Villella, Fargo, N.D., and juniors Andrew Eilola, Eveleth, Minn., and Alexander MacArthur, Marshall, Minn., all made the cut from the guaranteed preliminary round competition to single elimination finals. Villella reached the quarter-finals of the Prose Interpretation event while MacArthur reached the quarter-finals of Dramatic Interpretation. Their quarter-final finish placed them among the top 24 competitors in the tournament. Eilola advanced to the semi-finals of Persuasive Speaking and then advanced again to the tournament final round, placing sixth in the nation. The Persuasive Speaking event was won by Jenna Surprenant, a student from Kansas State University.
      Villella was also named as an All-American by the vote of the tournament governing committee. The All-American award is based on a student’s combined achievements in academic, competitive and service realms.
      As a school, Concordia placed 14th among all institutions participating at the tournament. The top three places were taken by Western Kentucky University, Bradley University and George Mason University.
       “This award is a testament to the work of all our speech competitors” says Concordia Director of Forensics, Fred Sternhagen, “the overall school award is determined from the combined performance by all of a school’s competitors – not just a school’s top finishers. This finish would not have been possible without the strong contribution of all our students and without the contribution of our seniors who allowed us to get to this point.”
      Other Concordia students who qualified for the national tournament were seniors Jen Pagh (Apple Valley, Minn.), Kelsey Raasch (Morris, Minn.), Jessica Strending (Great Falls, Mont.), junior Tyler Dugger (Billings, Mont.), sophomores Britt Aasmunstad (Devils Lake, N.D.), Meg Henrickson (Yankton, S.D.), Jenna Nypan (Cushing, Minn.), Cole Kantos (Wapaca, Wis.), and first-year student Joe Anderson (Albany, Ore.).
     
-30-

(aek/fs)
11-056

Information For:

current students
faculty and staff		 parents
alumni		 high school students
admitted students