Wisconsin Forensics Daily

Appleton East Alum Honored

For the last three years the Wisconsin Alumni Association has honored young University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni with its Forward Under Forty awards. The Forward Under Forty awards recognize UW grads under age 40 who are making an impact on the world by living the Wisconsin Idea.

Brian Riedl was awarded with one of the Forward Under Forty awards for 2010. Brian was honored for his work on the Federal Budget with the Heritage Foundation. A great description of his efforts is in the above link – so I won’t bother rehashing the Alumni Association’s excellent work.

I had a chance to talk to Brian’s speech and debate coach, Mike Traas, about his involvement with the Appleton East team. Traas said the following:

Brian was a part of that magical group that was successful at Kansas City, along with Ben Bayer, Erick Lichte, Dan Jessup, Ben Schurg, Nick Stumbris, Jack Champeau, Ann Hackel, Tara Hofkins. Erick Lichte finished 2nd in DI, Nick Stumbris 4th in House, Tara Hofkins Semi Finalist in Oratory, Jack Champeau Finalist – senate supersession, Dan Jessup & Ben Schurg both quarterfinalists in HI, Ann Hackel Quarterfinalist in DI, Ben Bayer – Foreign Extemp Quarterfinalist (missed Semis on the 3rd tiebreaker), Ben had the Black ribbon and was 3-3 in LD with cases he wrote on Sunday (he didn’t care about LD any more at that time), and Brian Reidl – the only one not to break, he missed the break on a tie breaker.

That year, Brian gave his economy speech and hand gun control speech so many times – you would think those were the only topics that he knew about, but he had a broad breath of knowledge. [Which is impressive because...] Brian only started forensics/debate during January of his senior year. Brian also really enjoyed Student Congress.

I felt that this was worthy of mention on WFD because Brian’s experiences directly relate to debate and public speaking. If you were not sold on the benefits of speech and debate to your professional career, Brian’s example should convince you of the activities benefits.

If your team has an exemplary alumni that Wisconsin Forensic Daily should feature, let us know!

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