EAGLE DEBATE TEAM 
                         "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold." Proverbs 25:11   
  More about Eagle Debate

Eagle debate attracts about ten to twelve students who participate in parliamentary debate. We meet twice a week for two hour practices and discussions and attend about 10 tournaments each year.

Our program has been quite successful in producing winning debate teams. We have had teams reach finals at nationals for eleven years in a row. Northwest ranked near the top 20 schools in the NPDA in 1996 and 1997, 12th in 1998 and 14th in 1999. In 2000 we ranked as tenth best debate team in the nation. In 2005 we placed in the top 9 percent of 373 teams nation wide. In 2004 we placed in the top 13 percent of 377 colleges and universities in the National Parliamentary Debate Association.

The Northwest program help found a new regional debate organization when the Northwest Intercollegiate Debate League was launched in 2006 with professor Gillespie elected as one of three executive council members.
Highlights for 2007 -- 2008
Highlight for 2006 -- 2007

Highlights for 2005 -- 2006
Highlights for 2004 -- 2005 click here.
Highlights for 2003 -- 2004 click here.
Highlights for 2002 -- 2003 click here.

List of Eagle Debate Team Captains

Jacob Witt:  1997 -- 1999
Josh Brittingham:  2000
Megan (Calkins) Brinkman:  2001
Dustin McClure:  2002
Jon King:  2003
Sara Boyd:  2004
Jordan Goddard 2005
Jed Nelsen:  2006
Nigel Reed: 2007
Morgan Chinn: 2008

Highlights of the Eagle Debate Team

1998 -- World Championships in Athens, Greece.
1999 -- James Stewart selected for US Debate Team European Tour.
2000 -- NPDA Octa-finals. Tenth in nation in NPDA sweepstakes. 
2001 -- First Place Debate, International Forensics Association tournament in Vancouver, Canada.
2002 -- Word Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Two teams close out Portland Community. College tournament for second year in a row.
2003 -- Third Place Great Alaska Speakout.
2004 -- International Forensics Association tournament in Madrid, Spain.
2005 -- 23 awards at Tournament of the Great Northwest at Seattle University.  Hawaii Pacific University tournament.
2006 -- International Forensics Association tournament in Prague, Czech Republic in March. Oxford and Cambridge tournaments in November. World Championships in Vancouver, Canada in December.

Some Outstanding Debate Alumni

Roger Altizer -- PhD in Communication, University of Utah
Autumn (Donnell) Witt -- PhD candidate at University of Northern Arizona
James Stewart -- Assistant Professor of Communication and Debate coach at Bethany University.
Megan (Calkins) Brinkman -- high school debate coach
Josh Brittingham -- UCLA Law School student.
Jordan Goddard -- Harvard Law School student
Gideon Copple -- United Nations Association Intern
Evan Muxen -- First Lieutenant in the United States Army
Nathan Novak -- Second Lieutenant in the United States Army

(please send Gary Gillespie updates for other outstanding debate alumni.)

Eagle Debaters Chosen for Commencement Speakers

Josh Brittingham 2000
Autumn (Donnell) Witt 2001
Megan (Calkins) Brinkman 2002
Christina (Reasner) Gard 2004
Gideon Copple 2006

In the fall of 2002, communication major and debater Christina Reasner became one of 25 top American college students -- the only one from a non-Ivy League school -- accepted into the Oxford University Honors Program in London. The program is similar to the Rhodes Scholar but for undergrads. She joined the Oxford Debating Society, the oldest debate organization in the world. Stories appear in the King County Journal and her home town paper in Alaska.

Eagle Debate competes internationally as well. In January 2002 we sent three teams to the University of Glasgow for Worlds Universities Debating Championships tournament in England  - where one team defeated Yale University. We sent two students to the World in Sydney Australia in January of 2000--where they placed 64th out of 240 teams. We attended the International Forensics Association tournaments in Madrid, Spain (2003) and Prague, Czech Republic (2006). Oxford and Cambridge Universities (2006). Each year we attend the Pacific Cup tournament at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

In January of 1998 we attended the World Championship held in Athens, Greece. One team ranked 75th out of 294, the third highest ranked NPDA team, placing above some teams from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge. One Northwest College student at Worlds was one of only five finalists in impromptu speaking--the only American so honored.

After a national search in November of 1998, one of our students was chosen to represent the United States for the international debate program sponsored by the National Communication Association. Only four students were chosen out of the entire nation. The fall of 1999 he traveled to Europe for a six-week debate tour facing Oxford, Cambridge and other famous European universities.

Five former Eagle Debaters have chosen to make debate coaching their career:
Roger Altizer, top debater 1996 -- 1999, coached for the University of Utah.
James Stewart, now coaching for Bethany College in northern California.
Jacob Witt, three time team captain 1998 -- 2000 received his Masters degree in Communication from the University of Northern Iowa desires to coach debate.
Megan Calkins, captain in 2001, is a graduate education student at the University of Washington and plans to coach.
Dustin McClure, captain in 2002, is a high school teacher who uses his debate experience to improve his instruction.

Josh Brittingham, team captain 2000, is now attending UCLA Law School -- ranked 14th in the nation. Jordan Goddard, team captain for 2006, is now a student at Harvard Law School.
Gideon Copple, a 2006 graduate, worked as an intern with the United National Association in New York City and now is employed with the Council on Foreign Relations.

In the News
The Eagle Debate program has hosted public debates with the British National Debate team, the Irish National Debate team and top teams from the University of British Columbia four times.

Since 1998 the Northwest College Debate team has appeared in the following publications and broadcasts:

• The Seattle Times ten times
• The King County Journal 16 times
• The Kirkland Currier six times
• The Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 12, 2000
• Vancouver Sun, September 6, 2000
• Associated press, December 1998
• KCTS Fox Television News, March 1999
• The Longview Daily News, November 10, 2002
• The Kenai Peninsula News, April 2002
• The Seattle Irish Club Newsletter, March 2002
• IDEBATE, Journal of the International Debate Educational Association, January 2003
• KOMO Television News, October 11, 2000
• KOMO television, March 12 and 16, 2004
• KCIS radio, March 12, 2004
• KIRO television, March 12, 2004
• KGOV Kirkland Cable television, September 30, 2005 and repeated weekly for four months
• KGOV Kirkland Cable television, January 31, 2006 now streaming
• KGOV Kirkland Cable television, January 2007
• KCTV Redmond Cable television, January 2007