The McHenry County College (MCC) Speech and Debate team invites the community to see them in action during their upcoming Spring Showcase, Thursday, April 3 at 2:30 or 7 p.m. in Room A211 at the College, 8900 US Hwy. 14 in Crystal Lake. The team will be performing a 75-minute program that includes a variety of speeches, debates, and performances.
To begin the showcase, students will receive an engaging topic 30 minutes prior to the event start and perform a shortened version of competitive debate. This will be followed by a persuasive speech, a speech to entertain, and impromptu speech where the speaker chooses from one of three quotations, prepares live for two minutes, then delivers a five-minute speech on the quotation. There will also be a section on prose (the 2:30 p.m. session will feature an excerpt from the novel If I Stay, and the 7 p.m. session will feature an excerpt from the short story "Targeted”), as well as a drama category.
“People who have attended our past showcases have told us they had no idea what to expect, but they were blown away by all the talented student performances,” said Bonnie Gabel, Speech and Debate program director.
The team has been quite successful this year, taking home First Place, Debate Team Sweepstakes in the 2-Year Division at the Illinois Inter-Collegiate Forensics Association’s 2025 State Tournament, which took place over the last two weekends in February. The team also took home several individual awards at the Frank-ly Speaking Tournament hosted by the College of DuPage and the Litrenta Triangle Tournament hosted by Harper College.
“I’ve been so impressed with this team and how they’ve excelled this season,” Gabel said.
This is also the last Speech and Debate Spring Showcase for Gabel, who is retiring this year. Gabel established MCC’s Speech and Debate Program in 2002.
“I’ve coached many individual state and national champions in informative and persuasive speaking, along with parliamentary debate over the years,” said Gabel. “I've also coached two national championship teams (2004 and 2023). I'm proud to say that many of our students were recruited to transfer to four-year programs at schools such as ISU and NIU.”
Gabel also acknowledged returning Speech and Debate or MCC alumni who have returned to help the new teams.
“I owe a huge debt to Sarah Metivier Schadt, an MCC alum who predated the program, but has been our assistant coach since 2017,” she said. “Our students are so lucky to have her talent and time. She's an incredible resource for the team.”
To register for the 2:30 p.m. session, visit http://mcc-link.me/iSwY50Vrzb9. To join the 7 p.m. session, visit http://mcc-link.me/6OyU50Vrz7a. Tickets are $5 for the 75-minute program. The cost of the ticket will help fund the team’s upcoming trip to Norfolk, VA for the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament.
For more information, please contact Bonnie Gabel at bgabel@mchenry.edu.