The Trojan Debate Team swept the floor at the 2024 Sunshine State Series tournament novice division – winning first place for the first time in their second year of competing.
The digital tournament, held by the University of West Florida, included three divisions with students from almost 30 universities across the nation.
Vice president of the team Matilda Ziegler debated over five hours without losing a single match, winning the individual first place award. Eva Reese won the fifth place novice speaker award. Despite being one of the two smallest teams competing, the two garnered enough points that the Troy University team won the second place sweepstakes award, accumulating more points than teams that had as many as six competitors.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Ziegler said. “It’s been extremely rewarding to see the results of my hard work.
“I also feel greatly honored to be the first person from Troy University to win a debate tournament, especially one as large as this one. I cannot express enough how much encouragement and support I have received from my teammates and my coach.”
Reese said she was equally delighted by the results.
“When I learned I got fifth place in speaker points, and our coach told us that was probably the reason why we got second place in the entire tournament sweepstakes, that made me feel like I helped Troy University win something,” Reese said. “I have to work out a couple things with my debate technique, but I'm really proud of the progress I have made in such a short amount of time with the amazing coach and team we have.”
Professor Mike Gray is a lecturer of communication studies and is the advisor and founder of the debate team. With 20 years of debate experience, he said he was not surprised by the accomplishments of his students.
“We practice twice a week, and nobody gets any scholarship money or course credit, so it's an all-volunteer,” Gray said. “That doesn't mean that it's harder work, but because there's no incentive other than the fact that these students want to learn and want to improve themselves.
“That sort of knowledge, dedication and practice accumulates over time into excellence.”
Both competitors emphasized the benefits debate has brought into their lives. Reese said that out of all of her extracurricular and research accomplishments, debate has helped her grow the most.
“Above all else, debate has been the most helpful in my everyday life and making me a stronger, more complete thinker,” Reese said. “It's cross applicable, I've met so many wonderful people through debate and it's an important skill I think we need to prioritize in this current day and age.”
“Debate has given me so much more confidence in my intellectual abilities than I had before I joined,” Ziegler said. “This confidence has helped me gain leadership positions in other organizations and has made me a better public speaker.”
The team meets every Monday and Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Wallace 107.
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