NO DEBATE ABOUT IT Olivia (Ball) Boesch ’23 gave her first competitive speech 13 years ago. Nervousness, it would seem, no longer speaks doubts into her mind as a college senior. “You would think that it would get easier, and that I would be less nervous, but it's not true,” she said. Boesch and her 20 teammates on the Cedarville forensics team will never master not getting nervous at tournaments. It’s part of the game. The nerves remind them how much they care about performing well and Whom they represent. BUT THEY HAVE MASTERED WINNING In the fall of 2022, the team attended three regional tournaments and won them all. This is the first year the speech and debate teams have competed together as one forensics team. In the spring of 2022, the speech team placed second at Christian nationals and second in the Ohio state tournament, and the debate team won a national tournament. Eric Mishne ’08, Assistant Professor of Communication and Director of Forensics, began coaching the speech team in 2019. The decision to combine teams under one coach made him nervous at first because of the number of students and many majors they represent from engineering to communication to Bible. But together is better. “It's been a dream,” said Mishne. “It's really fun to see everybody building friendships across lines where there weren't before.” The team spends a lot of time together at practices, at competitions, on van rides, and other social gatherings. They don’t just talk shop. They bond. "The spiritual encouragement that is happening, bringing in so many different people has been really good,” Mishne said. “There's been a lot of really good conversations we've had on van rides that we probably wouldn't have had otherwise.” LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS More important than their success, team members stand firm in their convictions and share their faith with their competitors when opportunities arise. Cedarville competes against many of the same teams from tournament to tournament. They get to know students from other schools. Those students are aware of how Cedarville is different, and sometimes that leads to a conversation about faith. "I've heard stories, even firsthand, of people talking about the fact that Cedarville students are Christians and that's why they're so happy and cheerful,” Mishne said. “That’s a beautiful testament.” Boesch, a communication major, said the competitive atmosphere isn’t usually conducive to heart-to-heart conversations. But during her freshman year she remembers a female student from Bowling Green who shared her life story. “She was just ready to talk about whatever with whomever,” Boesch said. “We started talking with her about her faith and just where she was spiritually. She said that she was open to having more conversations about God and who we thought God was and who He was to us.” BY JEFF GILBERT ’87 22 | Cedarville Magazine
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