Debate Coaching Achievements
April 8, 2005.
• The Northwest College debate team ranks in the top 13 percent of the nation in 2004 among the 357 colleges and universities in the National Parliamentary Debate Association.
• Team captain Jon King was ranked as the 15th best speaker out of 624 at the 2004 national tournament.
• The team placed tenth in the nation in 2000.
• Gary Gillespie has the third longest tenure of all debate coaches in the five northwest states.
• The Eagle Debate team has made final rounds at every NPDA national tournament since 1996.
• Debate Superior award for highest ranking program at the Tournament of the Great West after earning 25 trophies in debate and speech at Seattle University, March 2004.
• One team won first place at the International Forensics Association tournament in Vancouver, Canada in March, 2003.
• Northwest debaters competed at the Great Alaska Speakout in 1998, 2000 and 2002. This tournament seeks to bring together the top ten teams in the nation for a round robin at the University of Alaska, Anchorage in September. Northwest College wins third place in 2002.
• First place at the Willamette University Championship in 1999, competing against 57 top rated teams.
• First place for two years in a row at the large Portland Community College tournament in 1999 and 2000.
• First place and third place consecutively each year at the Linfield College debate tournament from 1996 to 2000.
• United Stated Debate Team. In March of 2000, James Stewart was chosen to represent the United States in a series of debates in Europe. After a national search he became one of two in the nation chosen for the trip.
• At the England and Wales National Tournament in London in 2000, Stewart and his partner qualified for finals -- defeating all six teams from Oxford University.
• Northwest College debaters have competed at tournaments internationally, including the World Universities Debating Championships in Athens, Sydney and Glasgow.
• In Athens, Greece one student was the only American to make finals in public speaking -- traditionally those who place in this event are considered the best speakers in the world.
• Northwest College debaters have taken top awards, including first place in 2000, at the University of British Columbia Pacific Cup for the last several years. This tournament brings together the top debate teams from western Canada.
• In the fall of 2003, Gillespie started the Northwest College Debating Society for students who are interested in debating current issues but don’t want to compete. 10- to 12 students meet weekly.
• In the fall of 2001, he initiated the home school debate outreach program that uses our students as coaches for home school debate clubs in the area. More than 25 homeschoolers benefit each week.
• Gillespie was elected by his peers the Northwest Representative for the National Parliamentary Debate Association for 2002 -- 2003.
For more about the debate team, click here
