By Mike Greife,
February 4, 2016
WARRENSBURG, MO - Five University of Central Missouri students have been selected
to travel to Ireland and Scotland on the 2016 Montgomery Cup Exhibition Debate Tour.
Samantha Begley, a communications major; Tyler Slinkard, a political science major;
and Brent Mitchell, a theatre major, are members of the Talking Mules Speech and Debate
Team. Andrew Weber, a digital media major, will travel with them as a videographer
to document the competition and to produce a short documentary as a senior project.
John Markley, a graduate student in communication who serves as an assistant coach
with the team, will be trained as an adjudicator.
The UCM group will be accompanied by tour organizer and U.S. coach, Jack Rogers, director
of forensics, and Nikki Freeman, assistant director of forensics, will serve as the
tour’s chief adjudicator. Three students and the Trey Gibson, head coach from Louisiana
State University–Shreveport, will join the team before the depart.
The team will leave on the Feb. 28 and return on March 15. The team will visit and
debate unions in Ireland at the University College–Dublin, the University College–Cork,
Limerick University, and Queen’s College in Belfast, before travelling to Scotland
to debate Glasgow University, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh University.
This is the 20th anniversary of the tour which, started in 1996. Over the years, the
U.S. team has claimed the cup 13 times, the British 6.
“We are hopeful that we can bring the cup home to Central,” Rogers said, “but all
of our students will be winners just for taking part in the experience.”
Follow the team on Facebook, or for more information, contact Rogers at rogers@ucmo.edu.
