Concordia University, Nebraska

Concordia University, Nebraska's Competitive Leadership Team was started in 2017. What started with one team of six students has doubled in size in the past eight years. The team has traveled to places like Cleveland, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia, for past Collegiate Leadership Competitions (CLC) and this spring traveled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the regional competition. This year's Competitive Leadership Teams won the Midwest Regional Championship finishing in first and second place. Team member Victor Santana said that the trip to Oklahoma City allowed the team to grow both competitively and in their relationships with each other. The teams also finished in second and fifth place in the online Global Competition. Other teams that participated attended schools such as Brigham Young University, the University of Toronto, Old Dominion University and Southwest Oklahoma State University.

Concordia University, Nebraska's speech and debate teams have enjoyed a remarkable fall semester, achieving significant milestones and showcasing exceptional talent across competitions. Under the guidance of head coach Malia Frerking and graduate assistant Angelina Stinson the team consistently excelled, ranking high at tournaments and achieving both team and individual successes. This semester, the debate team stood out with impressive rankings at multiple tournaments, including securing 2nd and 3rd place overall finishes. Freshman Jacy Jackson, freshman Aidan McKinnon and junior Brynn Holtmeier all qualified to nationals. At a recent tournament, every pairing on the team achieved a winning record, with three out of four teams advancing to the quarterfinal bracket. The duo of sophomore Thomas McKinnon and Aidan McKinnon had an extraordinary semester, losing only one debate round across multiple tournaments and claiming first place at the prestigious Vocal Viking tournament in Mankato, Minnesota, in November. On the speech side, the team saw four members qualify for nationals: senior Madelyn Graham, junior Esther Molina, junior Alayna Laughridge and freshman Alyvia Hardy. Seven additional team members are just one bid away from qualifying. Notably, Molina achieved double first-place bids, a rare accomplishment, while Graham has reached finals at every tournament she's entered this year. The freshmen have also made their mark, with every first-year competitor advancing to at least one final round in their events.

Concordia Nebraska's programming team is set to return for another year of writing code, solving complex problems and developing as a group. They operate under the leadership of head coach Ian Kollipara '23, a Concordia alum and recent addition to the computer science department faculty. Kollipara served as the team's assistant coach last year, but is stepping up into a higher position this year. This fall, the team will be hosting and competing in the Nebraska Tech Builders Challenge, which enables students to attend various programming-related workshops and participate in contests. They will also compete in the ICPC Qualifiers on Oct. 5 and the ICPC Regionals on Nov. 9. According to Kollipara, the programming team has several projects in the works this fall outside of these competitions. An intramural management tool involves work from the whole team, but individual members are also taking on their own projects. "Many students have taken on individual projects related to cybersecurity, braille e-books, NFC signal readers, video games and much more," Kollipara said.

Concordia's Competitive Leadership team took the top two spots in the recent Collegiate Leadership Competition, which took place on April 4 and 6. Twelve students competed in total, forming two teams - Concordia Platinum and Concordia Cobalt. The CLC was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit organization where students can engage in a digital practice space to apply what they're learning as part of their undergraduate education. Each April, they host a national virtual competition. Schools up to five times as large as Concordia compete, including the University of California - Riverside, Old Dominion University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and more. Dr. Curt Beck was the first to start a competitive leadership team at Concordia in 2017. Since then, Beck and other members of the business faculty have engaged in its leadership, allowing it to grow and flourish as a consistent national contender. Concordia's CLC team uses curriculum that allows its students to learn the attributes of effective leaders, creative problem-solving methods, conflict resolution, ethical decision-making, and more. This year's virtual Collegiate Leadership Global Challenge ended with Concordia Platinum and Concordia Cobalt taking the top two spots and maintaining their title as national champions.

Six Concordia students earned awards for their journalism work at the Nebraska Collegiate Media Association (NCMA) Spring Conference and Golden Leaf Award Ceremony hosted by Concordia on April 8, 2017.