McKendree University Speech and Debate

Home
United States
Lebanon, IL
McKendree University Speech and Debate

The McKendree University Speech and Debate Team competes in intercollegiate tournaments in the US.

The McKendree University speech and debate team competes in collegiate Speech and Debate across the US. The team primarily competes in Individual Events (PKD, NSC, NFA) and Parliamentary Debate (NPDA, NPTE).

05/27/2026

Registration for the Bearcat Debate Institute closes on July 3! $300 gets you a week of practice with the award-winning coaching staff of McKendree University Speech & Debate and practice rounds against your peers from the area.

All of the information can be found on the Tabroom page for the camp.

05/09/2026

McKendree’s Commencement yesterday was an opportunity to celebrate our seniors as they become our newest alumni. This group has played a huge role in the revitalization of the team and we’re looking forward to all of their successes to come.

04/28/2026

Every season, we have an end of year gathering for the team to celebrate their achievements, to decompress before finals, to send off our excellent seniors, and to reflect on the year.

Join us in celebrating this year’s team and our yearly award winners:
Richard Hunsaker Award for Outstanding Performance in Parliamentary Debate: Aidan Bradley and Ari Carney
Eddie Myers Award for Outstanding Performance in Individual Events: Anna Rose Sheehan and Ava Schmollinger
Most Improved Award: C. Houck
Top Novices: Dawid Boles and Nevaeh Papp

And special thanks to our graduating members: Elan, Garrett, Gracie, Holden, Jada, Jordan, and Tyson.

04/23/2026

Today is Academic Excellence Celebration on McKendree's campus and 8 of our students performed for their peers and professors. We started off with Zack and Nevaeh showing off their prose pieces. Then the crowd was treated to Ava's ADS and an impromptu speech from Anna Rose. Finally, Cath, Meera, Ari, and Aidan put on a demonstration debate about environmental protections in the Arctic.

Academic Excellence Celebration is always a fun and enlightening endcap to the academic year and we always appreciate the opportunity to show the skills, pieces, and arguments we've spent the year developing.

04/14/2026

Joe, Cade, and Dawid took on IPDA Nationals last weekend to wrap the McKendree Speech & Debate season. In the novice division, Dawid went 3-5 and Cade went 4-4. Topics include electoral college reform, the efficacy of athlete activism, and US military strategy among many others.

03/23/2026

We're home from the National Speech Championship in Nashville with a couple new trophies!

Ava finished in semifinals of After Dinner Speaking and quarterfinals of Extemporaneous
Anna Rose finished as a semifinalist in Communication Analysis
Nevaeh finished in quarterfinals of Prose Interpretation

And the Bearcats were 15th in team sweepstakes.

03/12/2026

McKendree Speech & Debate is home from the NPDA Championship Tournament and National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. In addition to our awards from NPDA, Brent was recognized as the Most Preferred Critic at the NPTE - an award given based on input from all of the debaters at the tournament.

And that's a wrap on the parliamentary debate season for us. All four of these students return for next year and will be joined by excellent incoming students from our SIDL program. The future looks good for NPDA at McK.

03/07/2026

On National Speech and Debate Education Day, we're competing in day 1 of the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. Our work with Ari and Aidan, who are competing today, started through our Southern Illinois Debate League when they were still high school students.

03/04/2026

The 2026 National Parliamentary Debate Association Championship Tournament is in the books. Both McKendree teams finished 3-3 and narrowly missed elimination rounds on tiebreakers. Head Debate Coach Brent Nicholson was elected Vice President of the NPDA and recognized as the recipient of this year’s Brent Northrup Distinguished Service Award. The team was 10th place in tournament sweepstakes.

We took our break day to visit Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park before we have Ari and Aidan compete at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence to conclude the NPDA-NPTE season.

Bonus pic of the plaque for our 2020 NPDA Championship on the traveling trophy. Congrats to St Mary's College of California for taking it home!

02/20/2026

As Founders Week ends, we want to take a moment to thank the alumni who help us make our program what it is. Seventeen alumni have come back to help our team in some capacity this year. That has made this year a joy as our past students help current students reach their potential. It has also helped us managed the largest Speech & Debate team in McKendree history – with 29 students competing at events this year!

That alumni support is critical to make sure this team continues to grow as both an educational and competitive opportunity for our students. For those of you who cannot make it out to events or who want to do even more, Founders Week is a great time to donate to our program. If you’d like to join us for an event next year, let us know! We’d be thrilled to have you back.

02/17/2026

We finished our regular season with IPDA and IEs hosted at Webster University last weekend. Huge congrats to El Gray, who advanced in Novice IPDA for the third consecutive tournament with a 4-0 record in prelims.

This Founders Week we’re shifting focus to our national tournaments. Students are finishing file work, putting final touches on speeches, and balancing all of that with their school and other commitments. We’re grateful for the work our students put in to make themselves and McKendree better.

If you want to help us keep making that a reality, please use the link in the comments to contribute – just select Other in the dropdown menu and fill-in “Speech & Debate” to direct your donation to our program.

Address

Lebanon, IL
62254

Website

http://www.mckendree.edu/speech-debate

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when McKendree University Speech and Debate posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to McKendree University Speech and Debate:

Shortcuts

Want your university to be the top-listed University in Lebanon?