Breaking Barriers: Speech and Debate Team Earns First National Qualification
Six Fullerton College Hornets are excited to take up a national stage with the Fullerton College Speech and Debate Team. The team qualified for the two most prestigious national tournaments in the country: National Forensics Association (NFA) and the American Forensics Association (AFA) national tournaments.
Qualifying to the 2023 AFA Tournament for the first time in Fullerton College history are Dominic Craddock, Rosemary Han, and Angel Wang. The three bested university competition at the District One Spring Qualifier Tournament, while Annie Wood, Matthew Stroud, and Hamza Soboh used their argumentation skills to defeat universities from all over the country and qualify to the 2023 NFA Lincoln-Douglas Tournament. Wood also took the McGaffey Invitation tournament champion in the novice division.
Each member of the speech and debate team is tackling important, contemporary issues. From health breakthroughs in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s to the overturning of Roe, students choose debate topics that they are passionate about and use their voices to speak out.
The speech and debate program had a strong start this semester. Beginning Feb. 11, the team attended their first tournament at the College Public Forum Spring Opener. After facing off against several four-year universities the duo of Kati Makshanoff and Alexa Palmer took third place in the novice division while Makshanoff finished fourth place as the best speaker at the tournament.
On Feb. 19, Fullerton College walked away with five prestigious awards at the McGaffey Invitational, including third place in the overall sweepstakes. Every member of the team placed in the top five of their division. Han proved herself a double threat as the only member of the team to place in both competitive speech and competitive debate after bringing home 2nd place speaker, behind teammate Wood, in the novice division.
Then on Feb. 26, five students competed at the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensic Association (PSCFA) Spring Championships, one of the largest non-national speech tournaments during the 2022-2023 academic year. A tournament highlight included Wang finishing first place in the impromptu speaking in the novice division. Wang credits her dedication to practice and supportive coaches and teammates for her amazing performance. Han was also in the finals of the tournament.
The team is now preparing for more tournaments in March and national competitions on April 1-3 for AFA and April 13-17 for NFA.
All competitors expressed enthusiasm and excitement about attending tournaments and re-building the team after acquiring impressive wins over rival schools. The speech and debate team has seen its highest numbers of enrollment since the spring 2020 semester with 17 active members. The team welcomes future students to enroll in COMM 138 Forensics in Fall 2023.
