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The University of Arkansas at Monticello Debate Team finished its fall semester competitions at Louisiana State University at the Shreveport “Red River Classic” tournament on November 4-6, 2022. This fall, the team also competed in tournaments hosted by Union University and Louisiana Tech University.

“I’m very proud of what our team has accomplished this semester,” head coach Jim Evans, an instructor of speech at UAM, said. “We are in a rebuilding year after COVID, and most of our team members are novices who speak well and practice hard.”

This semester marks the team’s return to in-person tournaments after the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended the 2019-2020 season. With the exception of the 2022 national tournament, almost all tournaments that the team has attended during the past two years have been virtual.

“It’s great to have the team be back to traveling across the country again,” Dr. Adam Key, assistant professor of communication at UAM, said. “UAM has always had students who could compete with the best debaters in the country, and I’m happy that we’re back to showcasing that in person.”

The UAM Debate Team has won more than two dozen national championships and thousands of individual and team awards since its founding by R. David Ray. Tori Hamilton, a senior from Krum, Texas, majoring in communication, added to that number when she advanced to the semifinals in the Novice Division at the Union University tournament this semester and tied for third place.

The team will next compete at the Arkansas state championships at the Southern Forensics Championship hosted by the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville on January 27-29, 2023.

All UAM students are eligible to join the UAM Debate Team. To learn more about the team, contact Jim Evans at evans@uamont.edu.