Muskingum News

Competing in Muskingum University’s first virtual National Comprehensive Forensics Tournament, Elizabeth Nease ’21 earned a 10th place national ranking and Taylor Blakeman ’24 and Alyssa Taylor ’23 earned a 21st place national ranking.

The National Comprehensive Forensics Tournament took place from March 18-21, 2021. It was hosted by the intercollegiate speech honorary Pi Kappa Delta in synchronous (live) and asynchronous (recorded) rounds of competition through virtual speaking platforms.

Muskingum was one of seventy-nine colleges and universities from across the country competing in the tournament, which featured 520 students offering 1342 forensics entries. Elizabeth (varsity), Taylor (novice), and Alyssa (novice) competed in a combined total of eight events.

Elizabeth, a Spanish and Theatre major, earned her 10th place ranking in Spanish Literature and Interpretation, presenting entirely in Spanish with an original Spanish introduction in front of Spanish-speaking judges. Her entry consisted of poetry from the book Saudade (Sorrow) by Clarabel Alegria, edited by Carolyn Forche.

Nursing major Taylor and Education/Special Education major Alyssa earned their 21st place ranking in a Dramatic Duo event, presenting “What the Constitution Means to Me,” by Heidi Schreck.  They presented their entry to the campus community on March 25, 2021, during Muskingum’s Women’s History Month “Women in the Arts” event. The complete “Women in the Arts” celebration can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/orbitmediatv/womeninthearts.

The Muskingum Forensics program is led by Assistant Professor of Communication Rachel Pollock.