The weekend of June 10th and 11th was a highlight for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Speech & Debate Program. Ninety alumni, program directors, and coaches traveled in from all over to celebrate Speech & Debate in its 145th year at Nebraska. Alumni who graduated from the mid-1950s to the present were in attendance.
"It was a great reunion and testament to the power of Speech & Debate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln," Aaron Duncan, director of the program, wrote, "and to the contributions of the study and practice of communication in our lives."
On Friday night alumni gathered for a reception hosted by the NU Foundation and conversation on the top floor of the Center for Great Plains Studies. Saturday morning alumni took tours at the quilt museum and memorial stadium. On Saturday evening, attendees met at the Wick Alumni Center for the reunion dinner and program. The evening’s events included a performance by current team member Grace Solem-Pfeifer of Omaha NE.
Speakers from each decade presented about highlights from their era and stressed the value that participating in the program has had on their careers and lives. Distinguished alumni from the 1950s, Jere McGaffey and Allen Overcash, regaled the audience with stories about traveling to tournaments crammed into former director Donald (Doc) Olson’s Oldsmobile. 1960s graduate Dick Weill talked about meeting his wife Judy on the team and the strength of women debaters on the team.
Duncan ended evening’s festivities by announcing a new scholarship, the “Jack Kay Scholarship Fund for Speech & Debate,” and naming the team’s annual tournament in January as a memorial to Dr. Jack Kay, who directed the team from 1979-1988 and was chair of the Department of Communication Studies from 1986-1989. Dr. Kay’s wife Ruth and daughter Erin were present to accept the honors for Dr. Kay.
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The Speech and Debate program is part of the Department of Communication Studies, a social science area of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The above story was written by Aaron Duncan and edited by Mike O'Connor.
