CC Speech and Debate Brings Home Win, Heads to Tokyo

By Sarah Senese ’23

This past January, the Colorado College Speech and Debate team brought home the title “First Place Overall Sweepstakes,” attesting to the hard work of both the team members and their coach, Sarah Hinkle.

First Place Overall Sweepstakes is awarded to the team that not only has the highest number of students placing well within their individual events but to the team whose students have the best overall speaker points. These students spoke the most eloquently, made their points the strongest, and put the most heart into the topics that mean the most to them.

What’s special about the CC speech and debate team, is that unlike the other colleges and universities that compete with teams of 20-40 students, CC has just six dedicated students. These students, despite being outnumbered by all of the teams in competition, managed to place in the top three of most of their events — earning their title “First Place Overall Sweepstakes.”

Sarah Hinkle, coach of the speech and debate team, is visibly proud of her students when asked to speak on their win. For Hinkle, the most impressive part of the team is not their winning streak or ability to bring home trophies, but their love for the sport. The students have a “heart for politics, global events, and platforming social change, and that’s what CC is all about — using your power for good. And these students do that through competition.”

Member of the team Colleen Campbell ’23, has equally prideful comments on her accomplishments at their last competition at the University of Utah. For Campbell, “winning isn’t why I do speech and debate. Representing the college well and the team well is why I do it. What we won we did together, through pride and comradery.”

Alanna Jackson ’23 also mentions what speech and debate means to her, “learning, being vulnerable, finding experiences that you’ve dealt with, and using them to push your piece to the next level — that’s what it’s all about. And I know that when I push myself, my team will be there to support me.”

The CC speech and debate team, though it be small, be mighty. Five out of the six students on the team will be competing in Tokyo, Japan, representing Colorado College at the International Speech and Debate Tournament during Block 6. Good luck: