The newly created debate team of first-year student Katelyn Hill and sophomore Ryan McCarthy placed third overall in the April 10-12 ACC Debate Tournament championship. They also placed second in the coastal division, all under the guidance of Christian Lundberg, associate professor of communication studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Hill and McCarthy were recruited from Lundberg’s First-Year Seminar, “Think, Speak, Argue” to form a team for the competition.
The tournament was revived this year after a long hiatus and was hosted by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem at the university’s Graylyn International Conference Center. Student teams debated the topic: “Student athletes should receive monetary compensation for participating in athletic competitions.” ACC officials also attended the event.
“This is a huge deal for our rookie team which was competing against substantially more experienced competitors,” Lundberg said. “We really had a great showing, outpacing a number of very good teams. And to top it off, we beat Duke in the final debate.”
