The California Community College Forensics Association hosted the Statewide Speech and Debate tournament in Woodland Hills March 9 through March 12. This was the first state tournament to be held in person since 2019. For the first time in the history of Clovis Community College, the Speech and Debate Clubs participated at the event. The Speech and Debate Club is a young club on campus as it was just created last fall. CCC was represented by the President and founder of the club Mikaela Silva. Other members of the club who competed were Daniel Hanson, Leul Tigabu and Alex Perez. After six exhaustive rounds of both Parliamentary debate and International Public Debate Association, over three days, CCC once again made history. Mikaela Silva and her partner Alex Perez had a winning record of four wins and two losses thus advancing to the first elimination round. In the end the Parliamentary team walked away with a bronze medal illustrating the excellence of Clovis Community College.
One of the brightest points of the tournament was our competitors getting to know and exchanging information with other colleges. The team connected well with competitors from Modesto Junior College. Modesto Junior College, like CCC, is a small rebuilding team but has been present in the activity for a while. This network will allow students to grow their knowledge of how to support an emerging program and become sustainable on campus.
The Speech and Debate Club would like to thank the overwhelming amount of support they received from the administration, faculty, and most importantly the entire Communication Studies Program, who gave a last-minute donation to help support the team. Speech and Debate teams are only as strong as the community that surrounds them, and we thank everyone that helped make this happen.
Looking to the future, Speech and Debate across the state has paid a steep price due to the pandemic. Many young or small programs saw their funding cut or programs cancelled. This tournament illustrated the strength of the community to rebuild itself as students learn to empower themselves through their voices, something I hope we all believe is imperative to our future. The club hopes to establish fundraising events on campus for the next academic season so we may become a larger part of the community and engage our own community here on campus.
A BIG "Crush" congratulations to the Speech and Debate Club and to Communication Instructor Nathan Wensko who serves as the coach and club advisor. Mr. Wensko is truly "Creating Opportunities – One Student at a Time."
