CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (February 27, 2020) – Eight students from Prairie View A&M University competed in Speech on the Beach 2020 at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. Del Mar, along with San Jacinto College, hosted the regional speech tournament Feb. 21-23, which also included teams from The University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Texas State University, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and several others.
“The students competed well, and this was an excellent tournament for us,” said PVAMU Director of Forensics Christopher Medina.
Alona Henry, Chidinma Brown, Chris Jackson, Ciara Edwards, Keishon Groves, Maia McFarlin, Neshun Etheridge, and Treasure Smith participated in the tournament, which was separated into two genres, debate and individual.
“We are incredibly proud to announce that PVAMU had its first individual event champion at any tournament. Additionally, PVAMU had students in five events to qualify for the National Forensics Association National Championship [NFA] in Wisconsin in April. This marks the first time that PVAMU will compete at the NFA Championship,” said Medina.
PVAMU Team President Neshun Etheridge said, “This was an excellent tournament for us and will give us momentum for the National HBCU Speech and Debate Championship we are hosting here at PVAMU this week.”
PVAMU’s students placed as follows:
- Quarterfinalists in International Public Debate Association (IPDA) Debate – Neshun Etheridge, Chris Jackson, Treasure Smith;
- Duo Interpretation – Keishon Groves and Maia McFarlin – 3rd (Day 1); Keishon Groves and Maia McFarlin – 3rd (Day 2);
- Extemporaneous Speaking – Maia McFarlin – 5th;
- Poetry – Keishon Groves – Champion (Day 1); Keishon Groves – 2nd (Day 2);
- Programmed Oral Interpretation – Ciara Edwards – 5th (Day 1); Ciara Edwards – 5th (Day 2);
- Prose – Keishon Groves – 5th (Day 1);
- Individual Sweepstakes – Maia McFarlin – 5th;
- Team Sweepstakes (Day 1) – Debate – 3rd; Overall – 3rd.
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