Joining the UNCC Speech and Debate team means learning to speak clearly and confidently about the things that matter to you.
What are you passionate about? What forms of activism or unanswered questions get your mind racing or your mouth running? Pick speech or performance topics that mean something to you and the people you care about most.
In the past, our team has traveled as far as California to compete against other colleges in speech and debate events, and we work to give you tools that will be useful for your future careers, grad school, or whatever else you do.
You'll find your niche. Whether you're drawn more to the poetic or the persuasive, we have events that will suit your interests and strengths.
You don't have to be a confident public speaker to join our team. You don't have to give up your job or stay up until 3am to make our schedule work. You just have to be willing to invest in yourself, because the skills you gain here will follow you for the rest of your life.
We write persuasive and informative speeches, give off the cuff responses to short prompts, and bring pieces of literature to life through performance. We face off against students from schools all over the country, learning from them as they share their own passions, interests, and expertise with us.
If you would like to join or are curious about what speech is, please email both Joy Yochem (jyochem1@uncc.edu ), Dr. Nance Riffe (nriffe@uncc.edu) and Sabrina Reed (sreed29@uncc.edu) with any questions!
The students who come away with the most aren't always the most competitive. Sometimes they're the most curious, or even the most compassionate. At the end of the day. the students who really buy in and reap the rewards tend to be passionate and do their best to be dependable.
So whether you're creative, competitive, or just want to find a group on campus to call home, this is the place for you.
If you want to win and are willing to put in the work, we can get you to a competitive place. If you to make a different for engage in artistic exploration, we can do that too. Its already in you, we just help you bring it out in full force.
Plan to work with a coach at least one hour a week and put in practice time on your own. The more time you work on your own, the more you'll get out of this. It can take a little more effort to get your events up and running at the beginning, but you'll hit a good rhythm in no time.
If you plan to travel for a competition, you'll need to have your weekend cleared. We'll let you know at the beginning of the semester which tournaments we'll be going to, so if you want to attend you'll have plenty of time to plan ahead.
If you compete with us for one season, you'll have a shot at a forensic scholarship your second season. Additionally, team members are eligible to receive the Barber scholarship. When scholarship and financial need are comparable, preference is given to a member of the team.
We compete at various regional competitions throughout the year culminating in a national speech tournament through The American Forensic Association National Speech Tournament (AFA-NST). Students work throughout the year to qualify their events in order to compete at the 3 day national tournament. In 2025, the tournament will be held on the UNC Charlotte campus.