Oakton Community College Speech & Debate Nationals

Hello!  We are the Oakton Community Speech and Debate Society located in Des Plaines, IL.  My name is David Nadolski and I am the Director of the Forensics Speech and Debate Society which is a team.  As a team what we do is put together public speaking speeches and compete with them against other colleges throughout the Midwest and United States.  Our events consist of debate, poetry, prose, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Persuasive speaking, Informative speaking and Impromptu speaking among others, and the students give their ten minute presentation against other college students and are evaluated by a judge who determines their rank.  It is a really great activity designed to build confidence and allows students the ability to tackle the number one fear in America... public speaking.  As you can imagine its so much more than that too.  Students go on to become successful in their careers and often cite the bonds and habits developed on the speech and debate team as the NUMBER ONE INFLUENCE on their lives and trajectory. 

My students have worked day in and day out for hours on end trying to qualify for a national tournament this year and our results have been remarkable, having won several bronze, silver and even gold medals in our regional and state competitions.  They have done all of this with the hopes of attending the nationals tournament to do even better.  Due to budgetary issues from our student government, we are unable to attend nationals this year (not even 30% of our budget has been approved).  The funds raised in this campaign will be directly donated to the national tournament that is set to take place in Reno, NV 4/8-4/14.  Funds will go toward food and lodging as well as entry fees to participate in the tournament.  Funds will be withdrawn and paid directly to the hotel, Phi Rho Pi and the students and coach for whom a $30 daily food stipend has been budgeted and will be allocated.  Established in 1929, Phi Rho Pi (The National Competition)  has the honor of being one of the oldest forensics organizations in the United States.  Please help my students have an experience we will remember forever and even small donations will go a long way.  That said, we are working in other areas related to other departments in the college to meet this goal as well.  Should there be any money remaining it will be 100% allocated toward the team's fund for Nationals next year.  For further information go to www.phirhopi.org and you will see just what an honor it is to have qualified to attend.  We really do need to buy our tickets in the next week so thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely,
The 2018-19 OCC Speech & Debate Team