Covenant Debate Society Puts Itself on the Map

Classy young debators strike a pose during their trip to the Commuicator Classic at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia.

Debate Society places in Communicator Classic Tournament and looks towards Christian National Tournament

Covenant College’s Debate Society proved itself again at the Communicator Classic Tournament hosted by Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, on January 21-23. Competing in the tournament for Covenant were freshmen Grace Mullaney, Ragan Brock, Susanna Griffith, and Sarah Swygard, junior Luke Granholm, and sophomore Zach Robbins. There were 25 teams and 50 individual competitors. Among these teams were groups from top tier schools like Grove City, which is ranked #1 out of 200 schools in the National Parliamentary Debate Association.

Covenant also debated against Patrick Henry, who have also placed well in national competitions and have a reputation for beating schools like Harvard University and Oxford University.

Despite such tough competition, the Covenant Debate Society placed very high. Debating in teams of two, Sarah Swygard and Luke Granholm placed 3rd overall, and Susanna Griffith and Zach Robbins placed 9th overall.

In the individual rankings, Sarah Swygard was ranked as the 7th place speaker, Susanna Griffith as the 9th place speaker, and Zach Robbins as the 10th place speaker.

The Granholm/Swygard team was only outranked by two of the Grove City teams, and they placed above the Patrick Henry team, which placed 2nd in the National Tournament last year. Covenant’s teams also consistently outranked a majority of the Grove City teams. In fact, at their last tournament at Carson-Newman, Covenant College was also offered an invitation to the Georgia State Championship from Gainesville State College.

Gainesville’s Director of Forensics was clearly impressed by the young team, saying that, “recently we had the honor to travel to a tournament at Carson-Newman, where I was very impressed with a couple of teams from your school that I judged there. We noticed that, shortly after forming your program in 2009 (that’s what I gather from your website), you had the distinction of NFA qualifiers, and the success you enjoyed at Carson-Newman speaks for itself. I just wanted to take some time to say welcome to the wonderful world of forensics, although it’s a year late and although I just found out about Covenant (in a big way) at Carson-Newman. Given the success of your program we feel that a state parliamentary debate championship in Georgia won’t truly be a state Championship without Covenant.”

The Debate Society will also be attending the Christian National Tournament at Cedarville, March 5th-7th.

The Debate Society still has many challenges ahead of them. Because they are considered a club and not an academic program, they have limited resources, no faculty advisor, and must find a volunteer chaperone for each event.

Zach Robbins, the president of the Debate Society, hopes that they will be able to be approved as an academic program. Doing so would open up huge possibilities for Covenant College. Having a sustainable academic program for the Debate Society would put Covenant on the map with other schools that have forensic programs, tap into a new group of potential students, and build a good reputation for the school’s pre-law program. Along with the benefits to the college, the students in the forensic program will continue to learn how to communicate, argue, and support their ideas.

As Zach Robbins put it, “as Christians, we have the most beautiful message. We should be able to communicate it the most beautifully. Without the education and practice necessary to prepare for that, we’re leaving our culture behind.”