Public speaking is a fright-inducing terror for many, but for the talkative students of LSU’s Speech and Debate Team, speaking in public is their specialty.

The Mixon Lyceum Speech and Debate Team, fondly named after its founder, Harold Mixon, competes in individual and team events in competitions nationwide. The team, led by Jonathan Bridenbaker, concluded this year’s season at the National Forensic Association Tournament in Detroit and brought home awards in every category.

This year’s travel team, made up of five students, placed third in the President’s Sweepstakes Tier 2 and 12th in the overall sweepstakes.

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However, accolades and awards are not the only thing that keeps the team running. Sports administration junior and travel team member Landon Terro explained that the team was built from the ground up.

“It’s felt so rewarding to do this together and feel as though our legacy is cemented at LSU, regardless of awards or accolades,” Terro said.

In 1910, the first debate team was started at LSU, and through centuries of hard work and dedicated faculty and staff, has transformed into an intercollegiate force to be reckoned with. The team’s heart lies with its 13 permanent members and dedicated director, Bridenbaker.

“In all my years of higher education, I’ve never seen a group of students who are more dedicated and passionate about their craft than I’ve seen here,” Bridenbaker said.

Bridenbaker comes from a long history of speech and debate. He joined a team 15 years ago and fell in love with it, competing for all of high school and four years of undergraduate school. With such a passion for forensics, he felt called to be a part of LSU’s team after he got a teaching job in the communications department.

Bridenbaker learned the value of good communication, public speaking skills and confidence, which he hopes to impart to his team.

“Speech and debate gave me the critical reasoning ability and the ability to not take what I see on the internet or social media at face value,” Bridenbaker said.

Despite its numerous awards and competitive nature, not many students are familiar with the team. Brandon Reynolds, the graduate assistant for the team, admits that he was not well-versed in the world of competitive speech and debate before taking on his position. But Reynolds quickly became enthralled with the team’s nuances and uniqueness, primarily because of the students themselves.

“It’s a testament to just how much they truly care,” Reynolds said. “Because I went from being apathetic towards this team to investing hours upon hours of extra time that I never would have done otherwise. It’s a testament to the competitors for making the team grow and making it a place I enjoy spending time with.”

The team comprises students full of school spirit that look forward to representing LSU at competitions both near and far. With this in mind, the team is often referred to as a school club – a term that somewhat diminishes the time and effort put into the team.

“I want people to know we are a team,” Terro said. “I know we aren’t the football team, but we compete, work hard and put in the hours.”

The Speech and Debate Team competes against 60 universities and has placed in the top quarter of these teams this year.

Junior sports administration major Sam Theriot, who is also a member of the competition travel team, urges LSU students to get more involved and recognize the team’s outstanding achievements. Though he is not an officer this season, he plans to take on a bigger role next season and work on recruiting more students interested in competing.

“We’re here to let people know what we’ve been doing and to fuel that drive for recruitment and recognition for all the work that every one of the team members has put in,” Theriot said.

LSU supports the Speech and Debate Team by offering some funding from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, but the team still struggles with recruitment and retention. Bridenbaker hopes to ease the strain with an endowment.

“Other extremely successful programs, like at the University of Alabama, can give their students scholarships and retain their top-notch program,” Bridenbaker said. “And one of the ways they were able to do that was through the acquisition of an endowment. For me, over the next five to 10 years, establishing that endowment is one of my biggest goals for the team.”

This article has been updated to correctly classify Sam Theriot as a junior and clarify the team’s funding sources.