Bob Jones Academy Students Place in National Speech and Debate Tournaments

Members of the Bob Jones Academy Speech and Debate team were recognized for outstanding achievement at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) in May and the National Forensic League (NFL) National Tournament in June. 

Six students earned bids to the NIETOC event in San Antonio, Texas.  They competed in a variety of events—such as Duo Interpretation, Duet Acting and Prose Interpretation.  Margaret Stegall of Greenville received a crystal trophy for making it to the semifinal round in Prose and coming in 11th place overall.

Seven students represented South Carolina at the NFL’s National Speech and Debate tournament held in Birmingham, Ala.  This tournament, the largest academic speech tournament in the world, brought together over 3400 students from all 50 states as well as several foreign countries. 

The following BJA students advanced through elimination rounds to receive national recognition:

Marina Shew of Greenville in Lincoln-Douglas (LD) Debate – 9 rounds of competition putting her in the top 45 LD debaters in the nation out of the over 230 that qualified for nationals.

Will Christmas of Easley in Extemporaneous Debate – 7 rounds of competition putting him in the top 70 debaters in a field of over 600.