A Tribute to Eleanor Wilson A Tribute to Eleanor WilsonBethany owes its current competitive speech program to the generosity of Eleanor Wilson, of Madison, Wisconsin, whose gift endowing the "Eleanor Wilson Chair of Speech/English Communication" insured the rebirth and continuation of a forensics program at the school.
Miss Wilson taught Communication and English at Bethany from 1952 to 1962 before beginning a high school teaching career in Madison. She retired in 1972.
Bethany first began a competitive speech program, emphasizing debate, in 1962. The program faded away in the mid-70's.
Bethany's Speech Team was reborn in the spring of 1991, when Sara Ose, in Prose Interpretation, and Jana Kom, in Impromptu Speaking, entered the 6th Twin Cities Forensic League Tournament. It was the last tournament of that season.
In 1991-92, its first full year, the Team had 14 members.
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Team members: 14 -- Total rounds: 339 -- Total breaks: 15
10 speakers attended their first tournament, the UNI-Cornell swing, and pretty much got blown away, but learned a lot.
Peter Born won the Team's first First Place, in Prose at TCFL#2 on 19 November 1991.
Valerie Juergens duplicated that at TCFL#4 on 18 February 1992.
At the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament in St. Louis, 4 April 1992, Peter Born earned a Bronze Medal in Prose, and another in Impromptu. Jana Kom won a Bronze in Impromptu.
Team members: 21 -- Total rounds: 552 -- Total breaks: 27
Lisa Dierks broke in Prose at Cornell, in her first college tournament, on 17 September 1992. She got her first First Place in Prose at TCFL#6 on 8 December 1992.
The Team's top tournament to date was the Normandale Phi Rho Pi on 29-30 January 1993. The Interpreter's Theatre (Mark Halvorson, Lisa Dierks, Valerie Juergens) won first place. Valerie added third place medals in Program and Drama for the Team's first individual "50-point Tournament."
Team members: 19 -- Total rounds: 343 -- Total breaks: 35
The "Vocal Viking Tournament" was born. With a great deal of help from Mankato State University, Bethany hosted its first tournament on 16-17 October 1993, which, linked with MSU's "Larry Schnoor Invitational," forms the "Minnesota Swing." 14 schools came, with UW-Eau Claire winning, Moorhead State second, and U. of Nebraska third.
Emily Cadwell captured the Team's first First Place of the season in Informative Speaking at TCFL#2 on 9 November 1993.
The Team picked up its first team trophy, a Third Place at the TCFL#3 on 7 December 1993. The Lisa Dierks/Mark Halvorson Duo won that event.
For the first time, all the Team members who entered a tournament broke. It happened at Normandale Phi Rho Pi on 29 Janaury 1994, for Emily Cadwell, Lisa Dierks, Mark Halvorson, Charissa Laper, and Erik Nelson. Lisa took first in Prose.
Emily Cadwell won the Communication Analysis event at TCFL#5 on 15 February 1994.
And Bethany got its first State Champion. Lisa Dierks won first place in Prose at the Minnesota State Tournament in Moorhead on 19 February 1994. She also earned a 5th place in Program.
At the Phi Rho Pi Nationals in Cocoa Beach Florida on 9 April 1994, Kathy Heins captured a Bronze Medal in Drama Interpretation.
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Most recent update 10 June 1995