Speech Team Brings Winning Season Home

Speech Team Brings Winning Season Home

ULV Lordsburg Speech Team showcased a season of success, performing speeches that earned seven national awards and a 14th-place national finish while highlighting a year of competitive growth and achievement. (ULV Photo/Claudia Gonzalez)

Students showcase identity, power, and prestige in campus speech performances following a strong tournament year

The University of La Verne's Lordsburg Speech Team brought its most successful season home to campus during its Spring 2026 Showcase on Tuesday, recreating the performances that carried ULV students onto the national stage.

The event featured live recreations of award-winning performances that helped the team secure seven national awards and a 14th-place finish at the National Speech Championship at Belmont University in Nashville.

Throughout the season, students placed at major tournaments including the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association (PSCFA) Warm-Up, Crossman Invitational, Griffin Invitational, Voices of the Valley, and Western States Communication Association Tournament, earning multiple first-place finishes in persuasive speaking, interpretation, and informative speaking.

Mikayla Holzinger, instructor and director of forensics in the Department of Rhetoric and Communication Studies, said the program is built on student voice as much as competition.

"Forensics is about finding the truth or seeking the truth," Holzinger said. "It's not just performance, it's students learning to advocate for what they believe in and communicate it with clarity and purpose."

Holzinger said the program is rooted in connection as much as performance. "The biggest thing about this program is a community of individuals that will support you in any aspect and help you become better critical thinkers, speakers, and people," she said. She added that students use their performances to speak from identity, culture, and lived experience, pushing their work beyond the classroom and into public discourse.

Senior student and political science major, Rania Kartouch performed an oral interpretation on her chosen topic, "Psychological Debilitation of Palestinians due to Palestinian Genocide." She expressed that the subject holds deep personal significance and it inspires her to deliver it with authentic performance.

ULV Lordsburg Speech Team attended the Crossman Invitational at El Camino College where they earned 5 awards, placing each student in the top three in their events. (Courtesy Mikayla Holzinger)

Holzinger said the team's success is also built on repetition and refinement. Students train in persuasion, storytelling, research, interpretation, and impromptu speaking, all skills that translate directly into careers in law, education, media, business, public service, and more.

She also emphasized the level of competition and opportunity the tournaments provide, noting that students regularly compete against major universities, including Ivy League programs such as Harvard. Beyond competition, she said, these events also serve as key networking spaces where students connect with peers and programs from across the country.

The showcase brought that work back to campus, giving audiences a front-row look at the speeches that defined the team's season, beautifully unique performances rooted in identity, research and lived experience, and a reminder of the practical, transferable skills students carry well beyond the stage.