LaToya Williams-Green, senior communication major, and Ryan Wash, senior communication major, celebrate their octafinal appearance at the National Debate Tournament earlier this month. Photo courtesy of NDT
LaToya Williams-Green, senior communications major, was shocked when Emporia State debate coach Sam Maurer announced her as the recipient of the Brian Johnston Outstanding Debater of the Year Award at the Cross Examination Debate Association’s national tournament.
“(It was) very shocking and surprising,” Williams-Green said. “You can think of a list of people before your own name that should probably get it, even your own partner. You fight hard next to someone who you know fights just as hard.”
The award is named after CEDA’s 1994 National Champion, according to Cedadebate.org. The recipient is someone who can not only give the right argument, but who is also a friendly and familiar face, Williams-Green said.
“(Johnston) was the go-to guy when it came to debate, not only for being likeable for what he said and what he thought, but for who he was,” Williams-Green said. “It’s humbling to be a part of that group of people and just (to) be thought of by so many people and by a committee who had to vote for that to happen.”
But Williams-Green said her inspiration comes mostly from those before her who did revolutionary things with debate and universities that paved the way for a young black woman to compete at such a high level. She also said she wants be the motivation for younger debaters and help shape their perspectives.
“What debate has taught me is there is value in your words,” Williams-Green said. “Even if you’re not debating…the words you speak have power. Speak, if you can. If you can think it, if you can formulate an idea about it, share it. A good idea turns into a bad idea if it’s locked away in a closet.”
Emporia WW, which consists of Williams-Green and her debate partner, Ryan Wash, senior communications major, made it into the final four teams at CEDA. Out of 320 speakers, Williams-Green was the sixth, and Wash was the fourth.
At the National Debate Tournament, which consists of the top 78 debate teams in the country, Emporia WW ranked ninth. Wash was also named All-American, which made Emporia WW an official All-American team because Williams-Green received the award last year.
“There was only one tournament this entire year that one of us didn’t get a speaker award,” Wash said in a March interview.
ESU’s debate team as a whole also won the Founders’ Award for 2012, which is given to the team with the most competitive points. The debate program is thriving because of their ability to work together and the talent of its members, Williams-Green said.
“We took care of business as much as we could and definitely saw some results from that,” Williams-Green said.
Susan Welte
Dell’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report Reveals a Commitment to People and the Planet.
Entertainment Close-up September 9, 2011 Dell’s progress toward its commitments to help people realize their full potential, build more sustainable communities and to help protect the planet was described in its 2011 Corporate Responsibility report.
According to a release, Dell was named Newsweek’s 2010 Greenest Company in America and is proud of its sustainability record. From designing, building and shipping to using and recycling computer equipment, the company’s goal is to deliver the highest quality and most energy-efficient products with the least impact on the environment. In Dell’s most recent fiscal year laptops and desktops were designed to use 25 percent less energy than they did in 2008. The company also lowered data center energy consumption for customers by improving server performance per watt. Dell also reduced the size of the boxes laptops and desktops are shipped by more than 11 percent. here dell coupon code
Dell sustainability focus is concentrated on managing its own operations, developing energy efficient products and solutions for customers, shipping products with sustainable packaging materials, and providing world class recycling options that makes it easy for its customers to be green, the Company said.
Corporate Responsibility highlights:
-Data center efficiency improvements: within five-year time frame Dell server performance per watt improved 31X -Laptops and desktops consume 25 percent less energy than 2008 -Customers have saved nearly $6 billion through Energy Smart since 2005, avoiding more than 55 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions -Surpassed Dell’s goal to reduce packaging volume by 10 percent -Increased shipments of laptops and smartphones cradled in environmentally sensitive bamboo packaging -Began a pilot to ship Dell PowerEdge servers in mushroom packaging; mushroom packaging is a dense material tough enough to protect heavier products like servers and desktops and is also compostable -Extended free global recycling to 78 countries and facilitated equipment drop off at more than 3,700 Goodwill and Staples locations in the U.S. and Canada -Recycled more than 150 million pounds of end-of-life computer equipment, a 16 percent increase over the previous year. Dell is on pace to recycle 1 billion pounds by 2014 As part of its IT solutions strategy Dell is helping customers save energy by hosting their data. In doing so, Dell will consume more energy itself than it has in recent years. However, with Dell’s more energy efficient data centers, the planet can benefit as Dell applies its expertise in efficient data center management and helps customers save energy and other resources. go to website dell coupon code
Dell’s giving programs help close the technology gap, support youth education, entrepreneurship and digital inclusion for underserved communities around the world. Dell targets 1 percent of pre-tax profits toward programs that benefit education, health and children. The company last year made progress in its global YouthConnect program and stimulated social entrepreneurship through the Dell Social Innovation Competition.
Giving highlights:
-YouthConnect has positively affected 2 million children globally with expansion to nine countries -Dell expanded the Dell Social Innovation competition to promote social change in growing communities and committed $5 million over five years to the University of Texas at Austin to grow the program -Dell and team members made multi-million dollar contributions for global disaster relief Dell is committed to a diverse workforce and embraces the similarities and differences of its team members. Diversity is imperative for its business and customers and part of what makes up a winning culture. Serving a global community requires Dell to have a diverse supplier network.
Diversity highlights:
-$3 billion investment with diverse businesses -Dell named one of the “Top Corp.s for Multicultural Business Opportunities by DiverseBusiness.com -DiversityInc.’s Top 50 Companies list -Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies list -Perfect score on Corporate Equality Index of the Human Rights Campaign for seventh time in a row Trisa Thompson, vice president, Corporate Responsibility, said: “Whether it’s through our green efforts or giving programs, our company gives back in many ways responsibly and with integrity. While we have made much progress, we have much more work to do to help people achieve their full potential and help us protect the planet.” More information:
www.dell.com ((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
Emporia State Debate took two teams to separate national competitions where debaters placed in top national positions.