This year, the little-known UW-Madison speech team boasted its most successful season to date, with two finalists competing at the national tournament in Florida. The team was disbanded in 1992 due to budget constraints and was resurrected in 2001 as a student-run organization.
It's been a successful year in terms of growth,\ said volunteer Coach Chris Klundt. ""We've got a lot of students, eight or nine, that went to nationals this year, and definitely 12 or 13 who were active throughout the year.""
Klundt added that, for the first time in the speech team's present iteration, they boasted a second-place finish at the state level and two members were national finalists.
Emily Barness, one of those national finalists and UW-Madison junior believes that her success is a testament to the success of the team as a whole.
""I wasn't just a personal experience, I think it really says a lot about our team,"" she said. ""A lot of other teams have multiple full-time professional coaches. We obviously get a lot of help from our coaches, but it's by all means student-run and student-coached for the majority of the time. So to get someone to the finals is really a team effort.""
However, the recreation and subsequent organization has not been easy, said Klundt, who founded the present incarnation of the team as an undergraduate at UW-Madison. During the 2002 inaugural season members paid expenses out of pocket, which Klundt estimates cost $1,300 per member. Although the organization has been able to find sponsorship though the Letters and Science Honors program, being student-run is still a difficult task.
""It means that, as students, we take on the responsibilities that a lot of other teams have a full-time director of forensics doing,"" Team Captain and UW-Madison sophomore Anna-Lisa Dahlgren said. She added that these responsibilities include making transportation and hotel reservations and sending in entry fees and forms.
Dahlgren does believe that, despite the work, the activity is worthwhile and offers participants many scholastic and life skills.
""The best way to get involved is to e-mail forensics@rso.wisc.edu, our student e-mail address,"" Dahlgren said. ""Then, in the fall we'll have a big kickoff meeting where, if you're interested, you can receive more information about the team, [and] see if this is something you'd like to be doing.""\
