Personal Stories
Building My Academic and Intellectual Core: Whitney Wilson
The University of Oregon Debate Team is critical to attracting high-achieving students, equipping them with the tools to succeed, and fostering a sense of community that inspires them to give back.
Today, I serve as General Manager for DoorDash, overseeing our U.S. marketplace business for the West Coast. I am also a Harvard MBA (Class of 2021), a former Presidential Scholar, and a graduate of the Clark Honors College. The UO Debate Team played a defining role in that journey. In fact, it was the deciding factor in my choice to attend UO, as I wanted to continue speech and debate after high school.
My experience on the team not only shaped me personally but also motivated me to give back. For example, while at Deloitte Consulting, I helped create a direct recruiting pipeline from UO to Deloitte, enabling more graduates to launch successful careers. I firmly believe this instinct to invest in others came from the supportive, ambitious community I found in debate.
I attribute much of my accomplishments today to the Debate Team. It gave me critical reasoning, problem-solving, and communication skills that I use every day. More importantly, it provided the support system I didn’t otherwise have growing up. Forensics gave me both a family and a foundation — and without it, I would not be where I am today.
For me, the UO Debate Team is not just another program. It is deeply personal. It represents opportunity, growth, and community — the very things that make a university education transformative. Cutting it would take away one of the most powerful engines for student success that UO has to offer.
How I Found My Way to UO Forensics: Whitney Wilson
I chose to come to the University of Oregon primarily to participate in the speech and debate team
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Karin Yorke
Life altering , challenging, engaging, humbling -and provided an immediate sense of community and belonging even though I was terrible at it.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Sumit Kapur
Forensics was the most important academic and social experience of my undergraduate education. It gave me organization, preparation, and communication skills I continue to use today as an attorney, taught me how to be an effective team player, and has given me some of my closest friends.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Connie Doyle
I was on the UFO forensic team and it was a terrific experience. We travelled and competed with other schools. I participated in several events, won at Regionals, and went to Nationals with some of my teammates. I feel privileged to have had this opportunity and will never forget the education I earned from public speaking, which has helped me throughout my career.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Ben Snead
Participating in the UO Mock Trial Program via the Forensics Department was not just an integral part of my college experience, it was a crucial part of my professional development. Thanks to the Mock Trial Program I became a confident public speaker and a better writer, both of which are skills I use daily as a professional. Moreover, I am one of several alumni of the Mock Trial Program who are now working or studying in Washington DC. I can't speak for others, but I doubt I would be in this position without UOMT.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Chris Crew
Forensics gave me the tools I needed to succeed. Unlike any other form of study, Forensics uses interscholastic competition as a tool to motivate students to learn how to think. Reason, logic, and facts dominate this compeition, giving students an understanding of how to thoughtfully reason and a confidence that they can overcome any challenge.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Siobhan Nolan
Participating in mock trial during undergrad shaped my college experience and made a last impact on the rest of my life. Mock trial is what encouraged me to pursue law school and what allowed me to be successful there. However, I was only able to participate because of the lack of financial barriers. I would never taken the leap to join if there was a cost associated with it.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Greg Mina
UOMT taught me everything I know about leadership, hard work, and advocacy. It introduced me to the idea that I could work hard and get into a great law school.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Alexandra Jansky
Irreplaceable skills. I would not be a trial attorney today without UO Forensics and my honors college degree
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Brooke Cates
The forensics program is one that should be kept as it teaches our young men and women how to engage in difficult conversations in an appropriate way. I hope you will keep the strong forensics department at University of Oregon so the university can continue on it's amazing mission in this field of study.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Logan Robinette
As a former forensic chemistry major at a different university, and someone who now teaches high school chemistry and organic chemistry, forensics opens career pathways for many students. Speech and debate is an integral part of those career pathways. The speech and debate club is HUGE at West Linn High School, where I now teach. For many students, our club advisor Mr. Sugar is an inspiration. Students of all creeds and backgrounds take part in speech and debate each year. Some students may be soft spoken and anxious about public speaking before trying speech and debate, but through the club, they learn valuable skills that take them far in life.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Emily Fowler
UOMT taught me legal reasoning and literacy that has been essential to my career. This experience was critical to my job opportunities and professional development, and has been consequential to the roles I’ve sought. And more personally, the support system and community I’ve gained from UOMT has followed me throughout my life.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Andrew Coyle
Mock trial was the highlight of my time in Eugene. In addition to making lifelong friends and increasing my interest in the law & going to law school, participating in mock trial helped me realize I wanted to be a transactional lawyer, which is what I do for a living. More broadly, mock trial and forensics taught me to debate using the facts I am given in a respectful but adversarial manner (the opposite of what I learned from my other activity in Eugene, the ASUO). Cutting funding to forensics is the wrong decision.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Sadie Kavalier
UO Forensics undoubtedly shaped my career path and success. Beyond providing an opportunity to practice trial advocacy, UOMT offered a community of like-minded students who have since supported me through taking the LSAT, law school, passing the bar, and practicing as an attorney.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Teri Patapoff
My son is currently in forensics at the high school level (West Linn, class of 2027) and has wanted to be a duck his entire life. Cutting this program means losing a student acquisition path or eliminating an impactful opportunity for incredible kids. They learn skills that have real world application. This would be a meaningful loss for University academic extracurriculars.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Michaela Kurinsky-Malos
When I made the decision to attend UO, it was in large part due to the storied and historic reputation of the Forensics Department. I rejected debate scholarships from Whitman and American University, knowing that I had the chance to compete with UO. I was lucky enough to participate in speech and debate and mock trial during my time at UO. I even had the privilege of helping to lead our very first Frohnmayer Competition. Through the Forensics Department, I made some of my dearest friends and gained invaluable professional skills and had access to invaluable mentorship. It’s hard to put into words what my time in the Forensics Department meant, but I know I would be half the professional I am today without it. I’m lucky enough to have spent the better part of the last decade as a professional communicator working to elect people who I think work to build a better tomorrow for us all — and it all started with the Forensics Department.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Noah Bean
I loved my experiences in the Honors College, the Honors Business Program, my major departments, and my years in student government, but nothing was more critical to my education, my personal growth, my professional development, or my preparation for law school and life generally than participating in and competing in Forensics. I am deeply concerned that this program does not have the funding it needs and a permanent home. In my mind, it is the single most impressive and important program in the entire university. Full stop.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Jessica Bradley
The strong debate team was what attracted me to move across the country and attend the University of Oregon. Without the forensics program, I would have attended a different university. Debate was the core of my academic experience at the U of O and helped prepare me for an incredibly successful legal career.
While debating for the University of Oregon, I also coached the South Eugene high school debate team for six years. Many of the students I coached were children of professors at the U of O. The U of O debate program has a long history of strong connections with high school debate programs throughout the state. While working on my Masters in Public Administration degree at the U of O, I successfully obtained grants for both Churchill high school and North Eugene high school to add debate programs because they were the only schools in the area that did not have them.
Considering the deep political and ideological divides in our country at the moment, having civil intellectual debates that empower people learn to understand and engage both sides of arguments has never been more important.
What Forensics Has Meant to Me: Matthew Clifton
The University of Oregon forensics team provided a platform to develop critical thinking skills, tools to ask strategic questions, techniques to be an active listener, and how to be an effective communicator. These skills have proven to be invaluable in my career and have opened doors to allow me to progress in my career.
Here’s How You Can Support the Legacy.
Oregon Forensics has always been more than competition — it’s community, confidence, and lifelong connection.
Here’s how you can help keep that momentum going.