Inspire, Summer 2001

Forensics Teams Win State and National Titles C edarville University's forensics team won the Individual Events championship at the recent National Christian College Forensic Invitational held at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. In addition to winning the team championship, the Cedarville squad posted two overall championships: Tim Cochrell (left), a junior from Burbank, Ohio, was named National Varsity Champion,and Mark Awabdy (right), a freshman from Cedarville, Ohio, was named National Novice Champion. In addition, the University novice forensics team recently earned top honors in the Ohio Forensics Association's Novice State Championship at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.The Cedarville team outdistanced squads from Ohio University, which placed second, and The Ohio State University, which finished third. The Cedarville lineup included Mark Awabdy(son of Abe and Judy Siplock Awabdy'64)of Cedarville, Ohio; Jeremy Bouma of Hudsonville, Michigan; Jon Culver (son of David and Carolyn Sapp Culver '77)of Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania; Kristyn Gledhill of Lansing, Kansas; Janna Graham of Jordan, Minnesota; Melissa Neufeld of Southfield, Michigan; Natalie Newfield of Bakersfield, California; and Keith Peters of Lincoln, Nebraska. Matt Moore'92 (left), Cedarville's director of forensics, said,"This is one of the finest novice teams in recent years at Cedarville University. All of the competitors are tremendously diligent and dedicated to being their best. Their first place finish is reflective of their hard work and talent." Competitors in forensics develop communication skills by competing in public address, oral interpretation, and other speech communication events. Competitors in the novice division are in their first year of forensics competition. Debate Team Earns National Title T he Cedarville University Debate Team wrapped up its 2000-01 debate season recently by earning the title of National Champion (in both novice and varsity divisions) at the intercollegiate National Education Debate Association (NEDA) National Tournament in Kankakee, Illinois. Three of the four teams in NEDA's semi-final round were from Cedarville. The Cedarville teams of Amy Reno (daughter of William '78 and Kathleen Kerrigan Reno'74 of Indianapolis, Indiana) and Matt Kessler (Nokomis, Illinois), Kristen Konzelman ((larks Summit, Pennsylvania) and Michael Coffey (Napa, California), and Meg Jenista (daughter of Frank '68 and Barbara Lepine Jenista '70 of (edarville, Ohio) and Rachel Williams (El Cajon, California) took first, second, and third places, respectively. In the novice division, the team of John Bolinger (Jackson, Michigan) and Jennifer Case (Palmdale, California) placed first in the national round and ended the year with a 30-7 record. In five of the seven season tournaments in which Cedarville competed, at least one of Cedarville's two-person teams was in the final round. The first place speaker at four of these tournaments was Team Captain Amy Reno (above). Amy was named an All-American at the NEDA National Tournament, recognizing her excellence in debate and her contribution to the debate activity as a whole. The team is coached by Deborah Bush Haffey '68 (left), associate professor of communication arts. Dorsey Leads Intercultural Recruitment Endeavors M ichael Dorsey '00 entered a new position as coordinator of intercultural recruitment for Cedarville University in August 2000. In his new role, Michael (right) leverages existing University resources to recruit and retain minority students. One of the ways Michael strives to meet his goals is through PEACE Project—a multicultural student organization which stands for "Promoting Ethnic And Cultural Education." The group is already at work promoting an awareness and understanding of various cultures, especially different American cultures, through community service, discussion groups, and music. Service ideas include working in soup kitchens and helping Springfield's Urban Light Ministry. Discussion groups have already begun meeting, covering topics such as the Cincinnati riots. A new 80-member special choir has performed twice, exposing the Cedarville family to a different style of music and culture. The choir plans to take their sound and style on the road, promoting Cedarville to audiences that would not otherwise be drawn in, according to Michael. "It's been exciting to see how interested the campus is in what's going on. Cedarville has a lot of potential to partner up with multicultural circles, and I'm looking forward to the partnership that's going to grow," Michael shared."As we look through the Bible, we realize that heaven is not going to be a place of white worship, black worship, or Latino worship—it's God worship. It's exciting to see how Cedarville University is striving to be representative of what the kingdom of God looks like." Inspire 5