Students resurrect parliamentary debate team

For the first time, IU has a parliamentary debate team.

Junior Colin Landberg and sophomore Mike Blomquist, co-presidents of the Indiana Forensics Team, re-assembled the team from the ground up this year.

Landberg said they decided to rebuild the team because they thought it would be able to help all IU students improve their communication skills.

“It’s an academic sport,” he said. “We believe that IU has the talent pool to succeed.”

Landberg and Blomquist traveled Feb. 15 to the Ivy Tech Community College campus in Indianapolis to compete in the Indiana Speech Tournament.

Debate topics are broken into nine sections, and the scores are added up at the end, Landberg said.

The only topics the IU team competes in are prose interpretation, after-dinner speaking, dramatic interpretation and poetry interpretation.  

Landberg’s and Blomquist’s results placed them at sixth in state.

But Landberg, a telecommunications major, was named state champion in the prose debate.  

“It makes me happy that we are able to compete,” Landberg said.
Landberg said he gets a little nervous before competing. He said he channels the nervousness to his advantage.

“Over the years I have learned to use the nervous energy in a positive way,” he said.
Blomquist is double majoring in telecommunications and script writing. He competed in the topics of prose, poetry and after-dinner speaking last weekend.

After-dinner speaking consists of writing humorous, original speech, Blomquist said.

“You try to make a serious point through humor.” Blomquist said.

Blomquist placed sixth in after-dinner speaking and third in poetry interpretation.
Landberg said he would encourage students to join the team to improve their communication skills.

“Communication skills are beneficial no matter what career path you choose,” he said. “Sharpening those skills is always important.”

Blomquist said he agreed.

“I think with speech and debate, there is something for everyone.” Blomquist said. “It’s a great resource, and it’s fun to be a part of a team.”

An earlier version of this story said IU's speech and debate team was resurrected after a 20-year hiatus. Also, that Indiana Forensics Team has an only 10-member roster, with enough funding to support three competitors. Also, Landberg said the team didn't have a director or buses when traveling to state, and that most teams and their members had discounted food.