Mickayla Stogsdill (’19), executive president of the UT Speech and Debate Society, has led UT to a #1 position nationwide with the help of VOLstarter and other private support.
As executive president of the Tennessee Speech and Debate Society, Mickayla Stogsdill (’19) coached her teammates to five individual national championships, three team national championships, and maintaining UT’s rich debate success as a seven-time national championship-winning team. She won two national championships herself, spending three hours every Thursday evening helping students learn to debate and develop skills in public speaking and oration.
“We are a fully student-run and donor-funded competitive speech and debate team,” says Stogsdill, who was also ranked as the number one debater three times in her debate career. “We compete in International Public Debate Association-style debate and International Extemporaneous-style speaking.
We are welcoming and open to all students and all majors regardless of debate experience or speaking skill. We travel to tournaments over weekends to compete with other schools across the nation, and the contributions we received on VOLstarter helped us make those trips.” Stogsdill notes that not only has the team benefitted from donor support, but her time engaging with UT’s alumni have provided some of the most meaningful experiences she’s had.
I’ll forever be thankful to the alumni and donors who made this journey possible.
– Mickayla Stogsdill (’19)
“UT’s debate team is by far the highlight of my undergraduate experience. It’s a team driven by student passion and supported by alumni—we are a family. I’ll forever be thankful to the alumni and donors who made this journey possible.”
A Baker Scholar, Baker Ambassador, and Chancellor’s Honors student, she majored in public administration and Russian studies and starts in August as a policy specialist with the prestigious Washington, DC, law firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. It was during one of her last debate-coaching sessions that she learned that she had been selected as a 2019 Torchbearer. “Debating for UT has meant so much to me and to countless students,” says Stogsdill. “So it was very special that they chose to surprise me during that time.”
UT Debate Team
