Emerson Forensics Team Wins Gold at Off-Broadway Tourney

The Emerson College Forensics team placed first at the Off-Broadway Swing tournament at Hofstra University in December, cementing their status as a squad on the rise. 

“Words cannot express my pride in the team, especially since many are new to the activity,”  said Debate Director and Communications Studies Professor Deion Hawkins. “Winning a team award is a testament to the collegiality and collaborative energy of the team. This win is especially significant for me, because it builds on a similar team win three years ago. Now, this shows that Emerson’s speech and debate [team] has a sustained history of excellence as opposed to ‘luckily’ winning one time.”

The team also placed fourth in overall team sweepstakes, which includes speech and debate. 

Before the Off-Broadway Swing tourney, the Forensics team kicked off its season in September with a virtual tournament, and will end with internationals in Seoul, South Korea in March.

Kayla Armbruster ’25, placed third in prose interpretation, which is on the speech side of the competition. Armbruster has been a part of Emerson Forensics for two years, and has competed in speech and debate competitions since she was in middle school. 

“I’m so happy and proud of all of my teammates,” Armbruster said. “I’ve seen them all work so hard this past year, and they have all grown so much as debaters and performers. I’m very happy with how I paced the last tournament. The competition was really talented and it was an honor to be able to perform in finals alongside such talented people.”

On the speech side with Armbruster, Stella Del Targo ’25 placed fifth in Informative Speaking. 

Practice, Practice – Then Hands Off

The Forensics team meets weekly on Tuesdays, and individual students have practice rounds or exercises to work on each week. 

“As a coach, I cannot help students prepare arguments once at the tournament, so in terms of preparation, we really have to trust the process and engage in intentional practice,” Hawkins said. 

Henry Jones ’27 won gold in the individual International Public Debate competition. 

“What is great about debate is that our resolutions can be about literally anything, requiring you to tap into your entire general knowledge base to address the large number of topics you may encounter,” Jones said. “In this instance, I debated on resolutions related to the electoral college, WNBA expansion, the role of AI in healthcare, weighing STEM versus the arts, and assessing the geopolitical threat of China versus Russia.” 

Along with Jones on the debate side, Olivia DeCesare ’26 earned gold, Oluwatimileyin Oladunjoye ’26 and Braelyn Spitler ’24 earned silver, and Hallie Munsat ’27 earned bronze. 

The team’s next competition will be at The Bulldog Battle, a virtual tournament hosted by Butler University on January 18. 

“I am most proud that the team is not just competitively successful but a healthy environment where all members can thrive,” Hawkins said. “Perfection is not required, but respect and hard work are.”