Howard Payne University’s Student Speaker Bureau (SSB) speech and debate team invites area high school UIL teams to participate in its speech and debate workshop and journalism events workshop. The events will be held at HPU’s Mabee University Center and the Paul and Jane Meyer Faith and Life Leadership Center on Wednesday, November 9, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The day will feature training for high school students in prose, poetry, informative and persuasive extemporaneous speaking, LD debate and CX debate. The journalism portion of the workshop will provide instruction in editorial, news, feature and headline writing. HPU’s award-winning SSB speech and debate team will provide all speech and debate instruction. Staff members of HPU’s Yellow Jacket student newspaper will provide journalism training.

Dr. Julie Welker, professor of communication, chair of the Department of Communication and director of both the speech and debate team and the Yellow Jacket newspaper staff, said that high school coaches and students can expect excellent small group instruction in each area.

“We like for this to be an opportunity for novice students to get practical, hands-on training in each event and for experienced students to dive deeper into their respective events,” she said. “In addition to helping students be more confident in UIL competitions, we want both new and experienced coaches to gain valuable information for coaching their teams.”

The cost is $30 per student. Although not included in the cost, lunch will be available on campus or at local restaurants. Those interested in attending can register online at www.hputx.edu/uilworkshop. For further information on the workshop, contact Dr. Welker at jwelker@hputx.edu.