Photo Credit | Dr. Gabriel Adkins
This past weekend, the ATU Speech and Debate Team competed in their first tournament of the 2024-2025 debate season at the “Border Wars” tournament hosted by Tulsa Community College and Sterling College at the TCC campus in Tulsa, OK. ATU’s members continued the tradition of success that has been well recognized since the team was first established in 1911. The team was coached this weekend by Dr. Gabriel Adkins (Professor of Communication Studies and Director of ATU Speech & Debate) and assistant coach Carson Davis, who serves as an Administrator in the admissions department at ATU.
ATU was represented by 3 competitors this weekend- Stephanie Littlefield, Jasper Millsaps, and Kaleb Young. ATU’s team also took two students to the tournament that served as judges- Mora Boyd and Tess Robertson. ATU’s Stephanie Littlefield won two awards in the Junior Varsity (JV) IPDA division of the debate tournament; Stephanie broke into the “playoff” rounds of the tournament and brought home a semifinalist award as well as the 4th place overall speaker award for the JV division. ATU’s novice debaters also did very well this weekend, bringing home the award for the 1st place novices in Team Debate (TIPDA).
ATU will continue its season by next hosting the “ATU Argy-Bargies” tournament on November 15-17; members of the ATU community and the public are invited to participate as judges at this tournament, which will feature both individual (IPDA) and team (TIPDA) debate rounds. No experience is necessary to serve as a judge, as the association seeks to train debaters to persuade members of the general public who are not necessarily familiar with the technicalities of academic debate.
ATU’s team is a member of the International Public Debate Association (IPDA), which has become the largest association for collegiate debate in the U.S., and ATU has been slated to host the 30th annual IPDA National Tournament and Convention for the IPDA in the spring of 2027- this will be the second time that ATU has been selected for this honor, having previously hosted the 20th anniversary tournament in 2017.
If you are interested in more information about the ATU Speech & Debate team or are interested in participating in the “Argy-Bargies” tournament, please contact Dr. Gabriel L. Adkins via email at gadkins@atu.edu.
Photo (from left to right): Front Row- Stephanie Littlefield, Kaleb Young, Jasper Millsaps. Back Row- Dr. Gabriel L. Adkins, Tess Robertson, Mora Boyd, Carson Davis
