By Leah Bosworth/ne news editor

NE forensics students triumphed at this year’s Phi Rho Pi National Tournament.

Members spent nine days in Greenwich, Conn., to attend the national speech and debate competition that brought together more than 500 students from 59 two-year colleges around the country.

Students Elizabeth Price and Courtney Stewart were both bronze winners in dramatic interpretation and prose interpretation competitions, and student Sean Gilliland was a gold winner in parliamentary debate.

“We focused more on the acting, and other schools focused more on looking polished,” Stewart said about her and Price’s performances.

Stewart said they worked hard to accurately represent and portray the writers and characters in their speeches to look and sound believable to the judges.

“Commitment to your material and a strong script” were things the judges looked for, Price said.

Gilliland competed with Tyler Junior College student Lewis Sharp as a hybrid team — a team with members from two different schools. This was the first time the students competed together.

“We’re both smart enough, and we knew each other well enough that we could understand exactly where we were going with one another’s thoughts,” Gilliland said about their teamwork.

The TCC students agreed there was a strong sense of competitiveness and seriousness among opposing teams but still mingled and made friends with many students.

“Yes, we were competing against each other in finals, but before then, why not have fun?” Gilliland said. “If I could do it again, I would in an instant because besides it being a competition, I got so much more out of it.”