National Champion Forensics Team

The ISU Forensics Team extended its dynasty by winning the American Forensics Association’s (AFA) national championship for the first time, after hosting the inaugural AFA tournament on the University campus in 1978. The Forensics Team has a 12-year string of first- or second-place finishes in the National Forensics Association’s (NFA) national championship tournament, but until this year, the team had not been able to capture the AFA title. "This year's American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament was the largest and most prestigious national tournament to be held this year,” said Jennifer Parker, Director of Individual Events. “The ISU team was only the sixth school to ever win the tournament and the forensics community responded by congratulating the team with a twenty minute standing ovation. It was a truly amazing moment.”

Individual winners were Brandon Wood (a senior communication major from Lombard), who earned “All American Status,” along with nine other students in the nation for year-long quality of performance and academic achievement. Shannon Maney (a senior English major from Ottawa) won the national championship in Prose, and Jordan Bryant (a sophomore business teacher education major from East Dubuque), Maney, Mike Slefinger (a senior communication major from Wheaton), and Adam Weightman (a senior communication major from Normal) placed in the top 20 individual speakers in the tournament.