Winning nine awards in its first competition of the year, the forensics speech and debate team is poised to carry on its tradition of success Mark Urista, assistant coach said Monday.
“We had our first competition, a warm-up, and we won nine individual awards. I think that was the most out of all the other colleges,” Urista said.
“We have been the No. 1 or No. 2 team amongst community colleges for the last 10 years,” Francesca Bishop, director of forensics said. The team is still in the top 10 when including 4-year universities, Bishop added.
Even with its success, the economy is still affecting the team.
“There are over 20 people currently on the team and we will have to cut it down because of the (budget) cuts,” Bishop said. Only 12 students are chosen to compete for the international competitions.
“(The three types of competitions) are limited preparation speaking, platform speaking and oral interpretation literature,” Urista said.
The team has many new members but Urista is very confident in the team’s ability.
“You just have to repeat things more than once with new members,” Urista said.
Along with the new members, there are returning students like Ashley Graham that have had success in forensics.
Last year, Graham finished fourth in the state for extemporaneous speaking, and won a bronze medal for extemporaneous impromptu speaking, among other accomplishments.
“The first year, I just had to get used to everything, so now I’m more prepared to deal with it. I’m just going to try and build off of last year,” Graham said.
“This year I have a new partner,” Graham said. She finished 2-2 in debates last year with her partner. The team is separated into smaller groups, which each consist of 2 members. She added that she hopes she can do better this year. Graham said that there are 2 kinds of teams, a government team and an opposition team.
Graham said during practice debates they usually talk about politics. “Once we started talking about whether it’s better to be single or in a relationship, but we mostly talk about politics and world affairs,” she said.
From a political standpoint, the team is very diverse, but it does not stop them from respecting each other, Urista said.
“We may all have different views on certain topics, like the war in Afghanistan, but we all learn to respect each other’s opinion,” Urista said. “Many times in a debate you are put in a position where you have to argue for a point you may not agree with.”
“We finish as one of the top teams every year,” Urista said. “We should have another great year.”
The forensics team’s first major tourney will be Friday, Oct. 16, where the team expects to do really well.