Forensics squad No. 1 in nation
April 4, 2005
The South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) Speech and Debate team took first place in the community college division at the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) tournament held in Lubbock, TX, in March. This is the fourth consecutive national championship for the district.
The team, which is made up of students from both Irvine Valley and Saddleback College, won sweepstakes points against 220 debaters from colleges around the nation. The eight district students who competed this year also contributed 18 preliminary sweepstakes wins to place 15th in the open division among the 78 two-year and four-year colleges attending the competition.
The eight debaters were Jessica Bursack, Brian Freedman, Rochelle Keyhan, Neil Minko, Shaun O’Neil, Jenny Tran, Olivia Weber, and Karen Wright.
The district squad also received second-place in the yearlong national sweepstakes race for community colleges. This is the seventh consecutive year that the team has been placed either first or second in the national standings.
“We took a very powerful team with us this year,” said Gary Rybold, debate coach at Irvine Valley College. “This is our first nationals where not one team had a losing record. Even with the tough competition, we were the only community college team in the top 20. We were also very proud of our
alumni at the tournament; five of them made it to the elimination rounds. We had a lot of reasons to cheer at the awards ceremony.”
Students Olivia Weber and Jessica Bursack were recognized as the top novice team in the tournament, winning five out of eight debates. Weber was also named the top individual novice speaker; Bursak was awarded third-place individual novice speaker.
On Friday, Apr. 29, the team will host the Eastern European debate champions in the Student Services Center Lobby at 7 p.m. The European team, which is made up of students from Bulgaria and Romania, will debate the issue: “Should NATO band?” Admission is $5.