Augsburg College’s Heather Nystrom won sixth place in orator at the Minnesota College Forensic Association’s annual state tournament, Feb. 22 and 23, at Concordia College in Moorhead In addition, Augsburg’s Speech Team earned the second-place sweepstakes award in their division. “I was really pleased to win the award, because my topic can be a tough sell,” said Nystrom, daughter of Donald and Brenda Nystrom of Kimball. “My speech tries to convince people to learn more about statistical literacy, and apply it to their daily lives. It’s important, but not always the most exciting material. We tried to use a lot of humor to keep people’s attention.” The tournament included hundreds of student from 16 colleges and universities around the state. Speech tournaments do not divide events by NCAA divisions, so small colleges such as Augsburg compete against large university campuses such as the University of Minnesota, or Minnesota State Universities. College speech tournaments hold competition in 11 recognized events, and two debate categories. These events range from presenting dramatic monologues and persuasive political topics, to impromptu speeches given with only a few minutes of preparation time. At any given tournament, all eleven events are run together, like in a track tournament. The events are staggered over two days or more. A typical college speech tournament takes most of two days, ending with a series of final rounds in which the top six competitors face off against one another. Augsburg’s Speech Team is open to any Augsburg student, with or without prior speech or debate experience.
