TULSA - Southeastern Oklahoma State University's Gracie Sam, a freshman from Ringold, earned three top placements at the "Border Wars" Tournament held at Tulsa Community College last weekend to highlight a successful tournament for the Southeastern Speech and Debate Association (SSDA).

Sam was the champion of the Poetry Interpretation competition on Saturday, then took second in Poetry Interpretation and fourth in Dramatic Interpretation on Sunday. Sam was joined by Caydee Kennedy, a junior from Calera, who had a strong showing in the International Public Debate Association (IPDA) debate tournament.

This was the SSDA's second competition of the season and featured colleges and universities from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas.

Under the leadership of advisor Dr. Randy Clark, the Southeastern Speech and Debate Association is committed to providing students opportunities to improve their communication, writing, critical thinking, performance, and professional skills for lifelong learning and success. Students learn to debate, deliver speeches, and perform prose, dramatic and poetic literature in a competitive environment.

The SSDA has two more competitions scheduled for the fall semester, traveling to the Red River Swing at LSU Shreveport on November 8-10 and the Christmas Classic at Cameron University on December 6-8.

More information on the SSDA and speech and debate at Southeastern can be found at www.se.edu/act/speech-and-debate/.