El Camino College Forensics Speech and Debate Team won the overall sweepstakes at the Jannese Davidson Invitational.

The tournament at Concordia University Irvine was a three-day event in which the team competed against 23 other community colleges and universities.

Andres Osorio, who serves as co-president of the Forensics Speech and Debate team reflected on the team’s performance.

“I’m so incredibly proud of our collective performance,” Osorio said. “Our goal is for the school to win.”

In the Parliamentary Debate category, twin sisters Juliette and Julissa Celis were crowned JV team champions.

Danielle Kabboul, meanwhile, was named senior-level champion in the International Public Debate category, while Nia Gordon was named novice champion in Impromptu Speaking.

Also in the category of Impromptu Speaking, Zayrah Robb was crowned JV champion. Ashley Singh was named novice Extemporaneous Speaking champion.

Second-year member and co-president of the team, Abigail Sucup said that she found the challenging part of the tournament was thinking on her feet.

“We don’t always have the answers to all the questions they throw at us,” Sucup said.

To prepare for this tournament, the Forensics team practices twice a week, which involves practicing debate and topic research and practicing speaking events, along with lectures for every practice.

For those new to the team, this was their first time participating in competition as significant as the Jannese Davidson Memorial Invitational.

“I knew that the students were very well-prepared,” Professor of Communications Studies and Director of Forensics Francesca Bishop said. “When we did the tryouts, I realized that they [the students] were quite talented even though they had very little experience.”

The team had dedicated weeks of practice, showing continuous support to one another for their success.

“You go through a whole lot with these people and have to rely on each other,” Sucup said. “It really does feel like a family when you get here.”