Forensics Team Showcases Debate in Needham

 On November 13th, Vanguard students piled into Needham to see the Vanguard University Forensics (Speech and Debate) Team in action. In an effort to showcase their recently suspended team, Forensic members put on a debate hosted by the VU Forum club, in which they discussed whether or not the United States should be the world’s police force.

First time Forensic members, Kyla Tedstrom and Alexcis Albert, claimed the affirmative stance of the argument as they worked to prove that the United States should be the world’s policeman. The passionate duo have earned first place in all of their debate competitions thus far, allowing them to compete as juniors in at last weekend’s tournament where they placed 1st in Debate. Before the Forensics suspension, the two dreamed of going to Christian nationals in the spring.

Alexcis Albert has spent the past three years at VU pursuing a Political Science degree in hopes of one day becoming a lawyer.

“The forensics team is more than a team to me,” she says, “It is my family. I feel at home at Vanguard in a way I never did before I joined Forensics.”

Her partner, Kyla Tedstrom, a freshman from Centennial, CO, came to Vanguard specifically to participate in the community of Forensics.

“Forensics is a place that stretches me academically by pushing me to learn more everyday, emotionally by giving me a community of provoking and intelligent people, intellectually by presenting ideas and beliefs that challenge my own, and spiritually by teaching me to always have an answer for the hope that I have. In short, speech and debate has made me who I am today,” says Tedstrom.

Cassidee Platner, a junior from Carona, CA, and David Bell, a senior from El Segundo, CA, asserted the opposition stance by arguing that the United States should not be the world’s policeman. In a vote cast by the estimated 215 students there, Platner and Bell won the round with 69% of the votes.

“Debate is a means for me to challenge myself academically. It forces me to think quick, and brilliantly. I’ve experienced a community and a mentor through Forensics that I’ve never had at Vanguard,” says Platner.

Although the affirmative team and opposition team were in disagreement over whether the United States should or should not be the world’s policeman, they certainly both agree that VU Forensics is a valuable asset to the Vanguard community.

The VU Forensics members have not lost hope and have received support from all around the Vanguard campus. Together, they continue to fight for their close-knit, academically rigorous Forensics family.