WHAT: The Tower at The University of Texas at Austin will be lighted orange with a #1 on each side in honor of the UT Austin speech team’s national championship victory at the American Forensic Association-National Individual Events Tournament. The students will pose for a team photograph with the Tower in the background.
WHEN: Tuesday (April 24). The special lighting effects will be turned on at dusk.
WHERE: UT Austin Tower on the main campus.
BACKGROUND: The UT Austin speech team won the national championship competition at the American Forensic Association-National Individual Events Tournament during competition in Fairfax, Va., the week of April 4-10. In addition to being honored with the special lighting of the Tower, the 21 students from UT Austin who qualified for the competition, and their 11 coaches, will be guests at a breakfast with UT Austin President Larry R. Faulkner in Littlefield House.
This victory marks the third national title in the contest for UT Austin’s speech team during the past 13 years, said Dr. Peter Pober, Ph.D., director of individual events at UT Austin. He said the University also won in 1994 and 1995.
“The students dedicated themselves beyond anybody’s remote expectations. They were terrific, they were determined. It was a complete team effort. Every person was involved in the success, and we’re all still on Cloud Nine,” Pober said.
For more details, see the UT Individual Events Team Web page at <www.utexas.edu/coc/speech/debate/indiv_events/2001_natl_champs.html>.
CONTACT: Director of Individual Events Peter Pober, (512) 471-1957.
