Bethel Forensics History

Bethel University Forensics History

Bethel College has had a long history of forensic participation. Interscholastic speech and debate has been a part of the Bethel tradition since 1926, when the first oratorical contest was held at Bethel Academy. That year's resolution was: "Resolved: That the Bible should be introduced in the public schools." We invite you to find out what makes Bethel Forensics unique by checking our mission statement.

While some aspects of competition have changed since 1926, others remain the same. This short history of the team was compiled by Pamela Kranz Wentlandt, Lacy Larson, and Anne Carroll, with additional help from Sarah Bohn Williams, one of our alums (and a former TA for Dr. Dreher), and Christi Paulson, and is still a work in progress. If you are an alum -- or someone else with information about the Bethel Forensics team, please email Dr. Michael Dreher and let us know -- we'd love to find out more about the past of the Bethel forensics team.

A list of Bethel's directors of forensics and debate is now available.

1945-1946

Bethel's debate team was five men and one woman, with a woman director of forensics -- Miss LaVone Berthel. The teams were Christenson-Germany and Brown-Decker. The team was not allowed to travel out of state, but had plenty of opportunities to participate in many debate tournaments that were held at local colleges. The resolution was that the foreign policy of the United States be directed towards the establishment of free trade among the nations of the world.
The highlight of the year was the Northwest Debate Tournament where many awards were given and the experience was “invaluable.”

A picture of the 1945-1946 team. Standing: Alastair Brown, Harold Christenson, Miss LaVone Berthel (Faculty Advisor) Seated: Dan Decker, Florence Bergman, Charles Germany, Roy Nelson

1946-1947

Debate makes a big comeback this year as it becomes a credit class and finds itself in more demand than ever before. The team prides itself on the fact that they were invited to a tournament where they were the only junior college attending, and their team of Harold Christenson and Leo Kingsley went undefeated until the quarter finals (against 62 other four-year colleges).

The 1946-1947 Team: First row: Jacob Toews, Miss LaVone Berthel (DOF), Chuck Germany. Second row: Earl Hoagberg, Harold Christenson, Lee Kingsley, Donald Decker.

1952-1953

Bob Hilton and Ronald Palosaari were champions at the Grand National Forensic Tournament. The Clarion, Bethel's newspaper, labeled their effort "amazing" as they competed against schools such as Princeton, Dartmouth and the University of Florida. Paul Grabill was the team's coach.

1980-1982

Butch Maltby, a former NFA National Champion, takes over the team. One of the interpers on the team is none other than Peggy Kendall, a member and former chair of the Department of Communication Studies.

1989-1994

Todd Rasmuson, who previously coached the University of Minnesota to top-5 finishes at the NFA National tournament, takes over the Bethel program. Under Prof. Rasmuson's leadership, the team travelled a national circuit, winning many local awards as well as Superiors and Excellents at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament.

Prof. Rasmuson left Bethel to go into the mission field, having been the executive director of a missions organization in the Twin Cities, and most recently, the American contact for Daystar University of Kenya.

1997-present

Dr. Michael Dreher was hired to restart the forensics team after Prof. Rasmuson's departure. The team started in Fall 1997 with three members: Abraham Johnson, Melissa (Kerslake) Landin, and John Anderl. During the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons, the team attended 40 tournaments, and had 100 individual top-10 finishes. The team seemed to be motivated greatly by ice cream, and their love of food (some things still haven't changed 12 years later!). Melissa could always find a Dairy Queen wherever the team went. She wouldn’t only find the ice cream for the team, but also announce her task was completed by the friendly phrase “There’s a Dairy Queen over there (!),” becoming an ever so popular statement from her. If only Dr. Dreher knew what he was getting into by simply letting the students enjoy a tasty ice-cream cone after every tournament!

The very happy Bethel team in 1999: in back: Jen Oslin, Erin Sharkey, Laura McDonnell, and Abraham Johnson. In front: Christina Johnson, Teka Carrao, Melissa Kerslake, and Dr. Dreher Photo taken by Judah Gibson, Clarion photographer

The team also hosted Novice Nationals in 1998. During that tournament, Melissa managed to convince Jennifer Stewart, one of Dr. Dreher's Basic Communication students, to do parliamentary debate. Jennifer simply wanted to get out of writing a paper -- but they ended up the only 5-0 team in the tournament, and advanced to quarterfinals. Jennifer's sister Kristi later competed for the team in parliamentary debate, winning 60% of her rounds and earning many awards, and also compiling a 4.0 GPA from Bethel in Political Science.

The team shifted focus, moving from an IE and CEDA program to a comprehensive program that includes individual events, parliamentary and Lincoln-Douglas debate, and Readers' Theater. Along the way, the team has managed to win over 700 rounds of debate, and has earned nearly 700 awards. 

Bethel also started attending the National Christian College Forensics Invitational. Dr. Kevin Jones, who at the time was the Director of Forensics at Azusa Pacific University, was the founding tournament director. Bethel has gone back almost every year since. Bethel also started attending Novice Nationals, in part because Dr. Dreher has been tournament director since 1997.

The team also enjoyed success at a national level. Bethel has had 16 national champions at both Novice Nationals and the National Christian College Forensics Invitational. Laura McDonnell was the first NCCFI champion in Novice Prose, and Steven McMullen was a Novice Nationals champion in Extemporaneous speaking. Aminta Brouwer and Jeri Anne Hegman were two-time national champions: each winning an event at both Novice Nationals and NCCFI. Aminta was a persuasion champion, while Jeri Anne won Program Oral Interpretation. In 2004, Steven McMullen was the NCCFI champion in Impromptu, while David Maus and Heather Herschberger were champions in novice parliamentary debate. In 2005, Christi Paulson was the NCCFI champion in both Novice Prose and Novice Persuasion. In 2006, Bethel won the overall team sweepstakes award at Christian College Nationals. Erica Christenson won Prose, Faith Kroeker won Extemporaneous Speaking, and Faith Kroeker and David Maus won parliamentary debate. In 2007, the team won the individual events title and took 2nd overall at Christian College nationals. David Maus won impromptu speaking at both the state tournament and Christian College Nationals. David also won extemporaneous speaking at state, and took 3rd at state and 2nd at Christian College nationals in individual sweepstakes. Christi Paulson also was in the top-10 in open individual sweepstakes, and Nelly Patterson and Naomi Thorson were in the top-10 on the novice level. In 2008, Allison York won Novice Dramatic Interpretation and was in the top-10 in novice individual sweepstakes. David Dickmeyer was the champion in Lincoln-Douglas debate. In 2009, Kelly Snyder won Novice Poetry at NCCFI, with Nelly Patterson taking 4th and Allison York placing 5th in individual sweepstakes. Bethel has also had 29 national runner-up finishes during 2001-2009 at both Novice Nationals and NCCFI.

The team is also proud of what students on the team have done after graduation. We have several people who have coached on the high school level. Quite a few of our team members have gone on to seminary or graduate school, and we currently have several alumni in Ph.D. programs (Luke Scripter in Philosophy at Emory University, Terilyn Johnston Huntington in Political Science at the University of Kansas, and Abraham Johnson in theology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). Others, such as Melissa (Kerslake) Landin, Abraham Johnson, Shawna (Toupin) Warner, John Anderl, and Steven McMullen, teach at the college level. Matt Borg finished a Ph.D. at Purdue in Aeronautical Engineering and is working on a wind tunnel in Ohio. Laura McDonnell has even starred in national television commercials (if you've seen the woman munching on her veggies while walking on the treadmill, you've seen her!). Charity Kroeker completed a Fulbright scholarship during the 2008-2009 school year. No matter what people do, we believe that forensics helps people to be more confident and to do what they do better.

The team has grown to anywhere between 15-25 members (from just 3 members in 1997), but along the way, has had competitive success while still maintaining a Christian tradition.

Page last updated: 8 October 2009