A competition occurred this weekend in the SEC that did not involve sports.
Speech and debate teams travelled throughout the country to participate in the LSU Mardi Gras Classic tournament Friday through Sunday on the University’s campus, as they have been since the early 2000s.
Each college and university that has a speech and debate team hosts a tournament every year in order for participants to qualify for nationals.
As February tends to fall in the middle of the Mardi Gras season, the University invites students from Alabama and as far away as George Mason University for a weekend of Louisiana hospitality and customs.
Beads are thrown and parade music plays during the tournament awards ceremony, and Community Coffee, king cake and jambalaya are provided for a taste of Louisiana culture.
The tournament consists of debates and individual events. The debates are 45 minutes long, and students are given topics from immigration to “Who has better lemonade?” – Beyoncé or Chick-fil-A.
Individual events consist of one person competing for ten minutes in subjects such as acting, poetry or speeches that are persuasive or informative in nature, or a combination of the two.
The team boasts students from all majors and classifications and invites anyone to join throughout the semester who may be looking to get better at thinking on their feet or become more outgoing.
The more he competes the better he gets, animal science freshman Jalen Davis said. Being on the team has been one of his favorite college experiences, he added.
Before competing in the tournament, Davis won Louisiana state dramatic interpretation champion for his piece “Identifiable Marks,” about a drag queen who discovers she has contracted HIV and must come to terms with her illness.
University Director of Forensics and Speech Coach Kina Reed, said she loves her job because she helps students find connections with the world around them, which in turn helps them connect with themselves through thoughtfulness, imagination and critical thinking.
Reed said she was a shy student before she joined the speech and debate team in college as a communications major.
A poetry piece she created that centers around black women’s images of themselves turned out to be a “holy experience” for her, she said, because she was just coming into her own and having a piece that reminded her that her voice, body, skin and hair mattered was very fulfilling.
Students have access to many things on campus that are goal-oriented. However, self-talk is also important, and the speech and debate team allows students to have conversations out loud — which everyone needs, she said.
The team can also serve as an outlet for issues students experience in a constructive and healthy way, she said.
This is the first year the team has had a director, as the organization was previously run by graduate assistants.
Reed said she hopes to start a high school speech and debate summer camp to expand forensics teams in high schools across Baton Rouge.