JRP Hosts the 2025 Beehive Bonanza HS School Tournament with Largest Showing Since 2016
The Department of Communication’s John R. Park Debate Society hosted the 15th annual Beehive Bonanza on October 3-4. The event featured competition in 4 debate events and 8 individual public speaking events. In addition to scholarships at the University of Utah, top competitors earned bids to prestigious end-of-season tournaments like the Speech Tournament of Champions and the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC). The tournament brought over 700 people to campus from 28 high schools, representing Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Hawaii! The Bonanza was the season opener for most competitors and set the tone for a promising 2025-2026 competitive season.
This year, the Bonanza introduced several changes to increase competitive opportunity and rigor for competitors. For example, the tournament added additional preliminary rounds in all speech and debate events, required judge training to ensure a knowledgeable pool, and implemented mutual preference judging for debate. These changes elevated the Bonanza to the next level of prestige and afforded students the opportunity to begin their seasons on a high note. The Bonanza aims to represent rigorous competition and encourage competitors to perform at their very best. Director of Forensics, Dr. Duncan Stewart, cited the importance of good competition and how it elevates the critical conversations happening in debate rounds when explaining this year's changes at the Utah Debate Coaches Association annual coaches meeting this fall.
In addition to the positive changes, the 2025 Bonanza stayed true to the tradition of offering novice clinics to first-year competitors. One freshman member of the JRP explained how her experience as a novice competitor at the Bonanza was the very thing that encouraged her to stick with speech and debate and motivated her to join the team at the U. Assistant Director, Averie Vockel, states, "The importance of providing novice students with a quality experience cannot be underestimated. Speech and debate is powerful when it can be accessed and practiced by more young people". Moreover, the JRP is committed to ensuring the Bonanza continues to serve as a bridge to higher education; these clinics remain a critical element of that practice.
Over the course of the two-day tournament, students had the opportunity to compete in both speech and debate events, another unique feature of the Bonanza. Informational tables for the team and the College of Humanities were also run to help facilitate conversations that help high school students envision themselves at the U.
After two days of competition and hundreds of collective speech and debate rounds, Corner Canyon High School became tournament champions!
The Debate Society plans to continue its high school outreach for the season with the following activities:
- Production of monthly evidence packets
- Tabling at Charger Challenge on December 6th
- Tabling at Alta Silver and Black on December 6th
- A FREE regions prep clinic in the spring
- The Utah Tournament of Excellence following state competition
- The Beehive Forensics Institute summer camp in July 2026