IVC Speech kicked off their competitive season by earning 27 awards across four forensics tournaments.
The team made its return to competition at the PSCFA Warm Up Invitational on September 30th and October 1st. Seventeen colleges and universities participated in the two-day event hosted by El Camino College.
Newcomer to the team, Andrey Chernyshev, had a particularly successful tournament by beating out 45 other competitors to take the 1st place speaker award in novice NPDA (team) debate. His teammates, Seth Paap and Diego Victorio also received NPDA speaker awards in junior and open respectively. The debaters were asked to speak on whether the United Nations should abolish veto power in the Security Council, as well as whether Congress should prohibit the use of standardized testing in K-12 education assessments. Other notable awards included Lena Anecki receiving a 2nd place in Persuasive Speaking for her speech advocating for more protections for trans students in the K-12 school system, and 3rd place in Extemporaneous Speaking for Alexia Gallon.
On October 13th the team traveled to San Diego to participate in the Ray Dahlin Forensics Invitational hosted by Palomar College. This tournament marked the team’s most successful competition this season by collecting an astonishing 10 awards earning IVC the 1st Place Team Sweepstakes Award.
In Open IPDA (individual) debate, Alexia Gallon and Eli Sepulveda tied for first place and were both named Gold Medalists out of 39 competitors. Teammate Seth Paap was close behind winning the Bronze Medal. In individual events, Sophia Diaz took 1st place in Open Programmed Oral Interpretation for her performance on how women should not be pressured to feel ashamed of their bodies. Rounding out the achievements, Makayla Wu received 3rd place in Open Persuasive Speaking, and Cameron Cao received 4th place in Open Impromptu Speaking along with the top novice award. The team finished their weekend by traveling north to compete at the Parli Free Tournament at El Camino College. The grueling debate tournament culminated in a silver medal for debate partners Amanda Nguyen and Tymen Koetsier.
Shifting from in-person tournaments, IVC Speech tested their virtual speaking skills by competing at the NOF Oak Asynchronous Speech Tournament. This tournament required students to record their speeches and submit the video to a team of judges. In the end, IVC proved that their speaking charisma can translate to an online environment by receiving 9 awards. A unique characteristic about this tournament is that a tree is planted in honor of each student who receives a Gold Medal. IVC students Diego Victorio and Seth Paap earned this honor by taking home the top honors in College Extemporaneous Speaking and College Speech respectively.
The team is looking forward to continuing their success in San Diego at the Griffin Speech Invitational hosted by Grossmont College. Those interested in joining the IVC Speech Team are encouraged to contact Jules French or Bill Neesen.