Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--More than 200 representatives of some two dozen high schools in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee will take part Sept. 26 and 27 in a speech and debate tournament on the Mississippi State University campus.
The John C. Stennis Center for Public Service again is sponsoring the Novice Speech and Debate Tournament for students who are less experienced in public speaking. The goal is to encourage future involvement in civic matters, said center director Rex Buffington.
"It's all about developing leadership skills and exposing young people to issues that really matter," he explained. "They need to get a sense of how they can make future decisions."
The Stennis Center has sponsored the event since 1995. Organized by the National Forensic League, the program is coordinated by Randy Patterson, speech and debate coach at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Ridgeland.
The competition involves six categories: impromptu speaking, prose interpretation, poetry interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, policy debate, and public forum debate. Most activities will take place in the Colvard Student Union and nearby buildings.
Located in the Cochran Research Park near campus, the center is a living tribute established by Congress in 1988 to honor the Magnolia State's longtime United States senator and Mississippi State alumnus. A unit of the federal legislative branch, it works to promote and strengthen national public service leadership.
Stennis (1901-95) retired in 1989 and returned to campus, where he served in a mentor role for a number of years. Buffington, an MSU alumnus, was a press secretary and aide in the final years of the Kemper County native's long senatorial career.
For more about tournament, contact assistant director William "Brother" Rogers, at 662-325-8409 or brother@stennis.gov.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.