Nearly 40 students and teachers from six area high schools gathered at Howard Payne University in Brownwood for a hands-on workshop designed to help competitors prepare for UIL Congressional Debate.
Hosted by HPU’s Student Speaker Bureau speech and debate team, the annual workshop covered the rules, research, writing and presentation skills students need for congressional debate. Team captain Rylie Burden, a senior social science-jurisprudence and Guy D. Newman Honors Academy major from Lubbock, led the session.
Burden is a four-time state competitor in UIL congressional debate and a two-time state finalist. She also instructed students during the Brownwood workshop.
“Helping high school students learn about the congressional debate event is one of my favorite parts of being on the HPU speech and debate team,” Burden said.
Participants studied Robert’s Rules of Order, presiding officer rules and procedures, flowing, taglines, briefs and research resources. The workshop also addressed writing bills and analyzing legislation, docket negotiations and politicking, clash, presentation and personality.
HPU plans another UIL workshop
Howard Payne’s speech and debate program will host its next UIL workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 28. That event will expand beyond congressional debate to cover LD debate, CX debate, informative and persuasive speaking, prose and poetry, news writing, feature writing, editorial writing, headline writing and copy editing.
Dr. Julie Welker, HPU professor of communication, chair of the Department of Communication and coach of the speech and debate team, said the workshops give area schools a chance to learn more about UIL events while allowing HPU to host prospective speech and debate students on campus.
“High school students who compete in speech and debate events like congressional debate are the cream of the crop,” said Dr. Welker.
Welker described the upcoming session as the team’s largest workshop and fundraiser of the season. Schools can register online at www.hputx.edu/uilworkshop for hands-on instruction and preparation for district meets.
Scholarship and program support
HPU’s Student Speaker Bureau relies on donations to pay for travel expenses and other program-related needs. Supporters can visit www.hputx.edu/give, select “Other” under the designation heading and enter “Student Speaker Bureau.”
Students interested in attending HPU and competing on the speech and debate team can contact Welker at [email protected]. All team members must audition, and scholarships are awarded based on previous speech and debate accomplishments.
Howard Payne University, founded in 1889, is a Christ-centered liberal arts university in Brownwood with more than 100 majors, minors and pre-professional programs across six schools and three locations.