{"id":257856,"date":"2026-04-20T12:50:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/257856\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T12:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:50:27","slug":"tcu-speech-and-debate-reaches-100-years-of-pi-kappa-delta-tcu-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/257856\/","title":{"rendered":"TCU Speech and Debate reaches 100 years of Pi Kappa Delta \u2013 TCU 360"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 100 years of speeches, arguments and competitions, the TCU Speech and Debate team is reflecting on its legacy and revival on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 100th anniversary of TCU\u2019s Pi Kappa Delta chapter celebrates more than just the history of speech and debate; it acknowledges how the program has grown into a thriving team after periods of inactivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Established to advance competitive speech and debate at the collegiate level, Pi Kappa Delta<\/a> is a national forensics honor society dedicated to enhancing students\u2019 communication, argumentation and public speaking skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 100-year milestone is significant, but what makes it so special to the TCU Speech and Debate organization? According to TCU records, from 1977 to 2012, there was no acknowledgement of speech and debate and no competition involvement for 35 years. However, things changed quickly.<\/p>\n

\"\"The TCU Speech and Debate team posed with their frogs up. (Image courtesy of @tcuspeechdebate via Instagram)<\/p>\n

Amorette Hinderaker, the convener of debates and associate professor of communication studies, was not going to let that drought continue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hinderaker arrived at TCU in the fall of 2012 and set her eyes on reshaping the speech and debate team. Over the next year, she worked with the university alongside Nowell Donovan, the Charles B. Moncrief chair of geology and provost emeritus, to bring the program back to life.<\/p>\n

By the fall of 2013, the TCU Speech and Debate team was back on its feet, competing in competitions and carrying a tradition on campus that was previously lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, the speech and debate team is excelling in competitions and drawing in students. \u201cI looked into which colleges had teams and met with Dr. Hinderaker when I visited campus before I committed to TCU,\u201d said Daniel Mitchell, a first-year religion and political science double major. \u201cI came to Fort Worth with the goal of making the team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The team\u2019s poster design for the 2025-26 season is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the TCU Pi Kappa Delta chapter. (Photo courtesy of TCU Speech and Debate)<\/p>\n

For current members of the speech and debate team, the 100-year mark is more than just a number. It is an opportunity to experience a program that was once lost here at TCU. It is a chance to gain new skills, build tradition and pave the way for future students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a special year for me,\u201d said Ellie Griffin, the team\u2019s president and a senior theatre and journalism double major. \u201cIf I had to go back to my first year of college and start over, I wouldn\u2019t change a thing. I\u2019ve met some of my best friends through this team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 100 years of speeches, arguments and competitions, the TCU Speech and Debate team is reflecting on its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-257856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-fort-worth","9":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","10":"tag-fort-worth-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}