On Monday and Wednesday, the University of Northern Iowa Speech Team was granted an opportunity to raise money with Buffalo Wild Wings, which donated 10 percent of order prices to help send parts of the team to the national competition in Oregon in early April. 

The team has attended the national competition for the last three years, coming in 10th each time. 

Fundraising efforts have been occurring all year with a fall showcase occurring November 6th and 7th, where they raised approximately $1,000. 

The Buffalo Wild Wings event was chosen to raise funds because the restaurant is popular in the area. 

In the spring semester, the UNI Speech Team will have more events including a spring showcase exhibiting the three main events that will take place in the national competition: interpretation, platform speaking and limited preparation events. 

 During previous years, they received the majority of their funding through donations from local businesses;  since the team increased from 6 to 15 members in the last three years, they needed to raise more money in order to afford plane tickets.

“We don’t want it to be a case of ‘Oh, you’ve qualified (for nationals) but we don’t have the money for an extra plane ticket,’” said Ryan Courtney, a senior communications major and the president of the club. 

So far, six members have qualified for nationals with several more that are close to qualifying; qualifying involves placing in the top three of three events at any point in the year. Last year, about 10 members attended the national tournament. 

“We are growing as a team and we are doing well — I know we can continue to do well,” Courtney said. “Just a couple years before that we weren’t even anything. I don’t want anything like money to hold us back. We have the talent to do it so we should be able to do it.”