STERLING — Sterling College has another National Champion on campus. Freshman Cody Brooks became the National Champion of Novice International Parliamentary Debate at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla. last week. Brooks is from Sterling.
Tournaments for the last two years have been online due to COVID restrictions. This was the first in-person tournament for the team in two years, Sterling College Debate/Forensics Coach Ken Troyer said.
“One of the challenges Cody has faced competing online is audience adaptation,” Troyer said. “It’s tough to read body language, facial expression and even hear tone of voice with ease on a screen, whereas in person, Cody is much better at adapting to his audience and a space.”
Brooks had only competed in two tournaments – both online - before Nationals.
“When you’re competing in person you have people’s full attention,” he said. “You can see when they’re paying close attention to certain arguments or bouncing their leg out of boredom. Most importantly, however, competing in person allowed me to get to know my opponents and meet some genuinely remarkable people and for that reason, I prefer in-person competition.”
Unlike most collegiate debate/forensics competitors, Brooks had no high school experience in either arena. “Before attending Sterling, I was looking at different ways to get plugged into the community. Coach Troyer allowed me to watch the preparation process for last year’s online National Tournament. This allowed me to peek behind the curtain and watch the process,” Brooks said. He was also allowed to help the debaters – one of whom was his sister, Ardynn (Brooks) Hershberger.
“After that I met with Troyer for essentially a ‘crash course’ in debate. He explained to me what in the words ‘solvency’ and ‘harms’ were. As someone who grew up home-schooled and had nothing to do with debate until college, it felt like learning another language,” Brooks said.
The national tournament was held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. There were 69 schools attending with more than 1,000 entries. Unlike other collegiate competitions, all colleges/universities compete with one another regardless of size or conference designation. In elimination rounds Brooks defeated competitors from the University of the Cumberlands, Marshall University, and Butler University.
Coach Troyer reports that Brooks is the fourth national champion in Debate/Forensics in his 16-year tenure as Sterling College coach. He adds that if one counts the novice national tournament results over the years, that number more than doubles. The National Tournament Brooks and his teammates attended was not exclusively for novices.
“I’m proud of the rest of the team, too. They all did pretty amazing work,” Troyer said. Senior Paige Sherraden, Plainville, finished in 7th place in Persuasive Speaking which was her second time to finish in the top 10 at a national tournament. She also received an award of excellence in Interviewing. Freshman Aubrie Powell, Colorado Springs, Colo., earned an award of excellence in Persuasion, and freshman Miquala Purscell, Hoisington, earned an award of excellence in Extemporaneous speaking. Freshman Maddie Blackburn, Clay Center, also competed.
Brooks adds, “I could never have won this event or progressed this far without their high quality and sometimes very intense practice rounds. Iron sharpens iron. Without the help of my teammates, I would be a very dull debater.”
Explaining the team success, Troyer said, “I will match the student’s efforts no matter the time or place. We try early on to establish a practice routine and schedule and try not to deviate - that consistency really pays dividends when you are nervous and tired. But perhaps the greatest reason for our success is that the students who stick with the team/activity avail themselves to coaching. Those that win, lose their ego early in their career.”
