Debaters Place Second in Portland:

Northwest University Only School

with Two Teams in Final Four

Kirkland, March 20, 2007

Northwest University debaters ended the season dominating the competition at a Mt. Hood College tournament in Portland on March 17 – 18 when two teams won semi-final rounds and advanced to the final round.

Northwest was the only institution with two teams in the final four. In four-team division of debate, judges of the final round pick the first place team and the other three teams each receive a second place award.

Seattle University won first place.

Congratulations to debate team captain Jed Nelsen and his partner Nigel Reed and the team of Taylor Jones and Kortney Thoma for both winning second place.

Seven colleges and universities – including Portland State University, Linfield College, and Southwest Oklahoma University -- brought twenty-four teams to compete in five rounds of four-team division on Sunday.

The four-team debate format – also known as Worlds Style – matches four two-person teams of students for a series of eight alternating seven-minute speeches. Two teams affirm the resolution and two teams oppose. A panel of judges rank the teams from first to fourth and teams with the best rankings after five rounds advance to final rounds.

Current event topics are assigned fifteen minutes before each round. Topics included global warming, United Nation reform, Viacom vs. Youtube, the Gonzales controversy and the Iraq surge.

The topic for the final round was “the state should remove morbidly obese children from their families.” Both Northwest teams were assigned to affirm the resolution. Jed Nelsen refuted a challenge by the opposition that foster families are abusive by referring to his own family’s experience taking in foster children and pointing out that the vast majority of such families are doing good to help the children.

The Eagle debaters in finals were at the top of the game -- proving that the education and training that they receive at NU had prepared them to challenge the best and brightest students from our region – and emerge as winners.

Coach Gary Gillespie reports that he wished that he had brought the video camera because the Northwest students spoke so well. They were logical, funny and persuasive. Assistant Coach Jason Stanford was also pleased by the performance, saying that the win was a wonderful way to end the season.

Four-team debate is used at most international tournaments, such as the 2006 World Championships held at the University of British Columbia after Christmas. Northwest University attended the World Championship as well as tournaments at Oxford University and Cambridge University in November and six other tournaments in Washington and Oregon since September.

The international experience in Canada and the United Kingdom paid off when Northwest Eagle debate captain Jed Nelsen led his team to an impressive end of the year win at Mt Hood.

In addition to wins and losses, debaters are rated on speaking ability and the top speakers are recognized. Jed Nelsen ranked as the seventh best speaker and Kevin Botterbusch ranked as the eight best speaker out of fifty. After judging Kevin in one round, the coach at Columbia Basin College reported that Kevin was one of the best speakers that she has ever heard.

Kevin Botterbusch and his partner Zain Paloalto narrowly missed breaking into semi finals. While Zain didn’t win a debate honor at this tournament, last week he was named an “outstanding migrant student” by a Washington State legislator and received a certificate of achievement for his volunteer work with a bi-lingual leadership training program for high school students.

The Mt. Hood contest was the last competitive debate for seniors Jed Nelsen and Kortney Thoma who ended their four-year debate careers on this high note.

Besides competing at Oxford and Cambridge this November, during the past four year, Jed and Kortney have debated at tournaments in Madrid, Spain and Prague, Czech Republic, as well as the World Championships at the University of British Columbia. In January the two were matched against the student body president Oxford University and his partner the chair of the Oxford Debate Society in a televised debate at the Kirkland City Hall. In all, the two seniors took part in more than three hundred intercollegiate debates in our region and across the world.

Graduates report that debate has helped them achieve their career and graduate educational goals. Last month debate alumnus Gideon Copple (graduated 2006) was accepted as an intern with the United Nations Association in New York City and is now working in his own office researching human rights abuses. Part of his internship involves attending meetings of the Security Council.

Last spring former team captain Jordan Goddard (graduated 2006) was accepted to Harvard Law School and reports that his training in competitive debate and speech contests helped him do well on the first exams last month. Jordan serves as a line editor for a Harvard Law Journal – an unusual achievement for a freshman.

Like wise, another former team captain Joshua Brittingham (graduated 2000) is in his second year at the University of California Los Angles Law School. In a recent email to coach Gillespie, Joshua reported:

"Debate has certainly been central to my development as a public speaker. And it can even open doors. I recently participated in a moot court competition here at law school and one of the judges – an attorney in real life – was so impressed he offered to help me get a job at his firm, a large international firm with a presence in L.A. So you can relate to your students that public speaking skills are certainly valued!" More about Josh.

Some of these alumni will return to Northwest University for two public debates on campus on April 13 and 14. James Stewart (graduated 2000) will receive an outstanding debate alumni award for his success as debate coach at Bethany University in Scotts Valley, California. Assistant Professor of Communication and former United States Debate Team member, James will join assistant coach Jason Sanford in a debate on intelligent design on Saturday, April 14 against two other debate alumni. He will also serve on the judging panel when the students debate global warming on Friday night.