The State Fair Community College Speech and Debate team competed in back-to-back tournaments to kick off its 2022-2023 season.

SFCC students who competed were Josh Kofahl, Gray Griego, and Lucas Culbertson. SFCC faculty Kaila Todd and Sarah Nail are the team’s coaches.
The team competed in the International Public Debate Association (IPDA) style debate, which is a one-on-one limited preparation format in which students are given a new topic each round with 30 minutes to prepare their case. Additionally, they competed in individual speech events.

The team’s first event was the 2022 Bob R. Derryberry Season Opener, hosted by Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar October 7-8. Team President Kofahl started his second season with several victories. Kofahl placed sixth in Impromptu Speaking and fourth in Persuasive Speaking. Kofahl placed second overall in JV IPDA after a loss to a University of Central Missouri student in the final round.

On October 14-15, the SFCC Speech and Debate team attended the 2022 Riverfest Swing at Park University in Parkville where SFCC won the Top Community College Sweepstakes.
Griego placed third overall in Novice IPDA debate, fifth in Novice IPDA debate and sixth in Prose Interpretation.
At Riverfest, Kofahl received second place in JV IPDA debate, second in Impromptu Speaking, fourth in Persuasive Speaking, and fourth in Prose Interpretation.

“We are extremely proud to see the hard work of our students continue to pay off,” said Todd. “While we have started off the ’22-’23 season with competitive success, what makes me even more proud as a coach are the number of compliments I have received from their judges. Their character is shining through each round, and I know the incremental improvements they are making now will continue to pay off this season and for a lifetime.”

SFCC Speech and Debate team’s next tournament will be the Missouri Mule hosted by the University of Central Missouri on October 21-22.

Photo courtesy of SFCC