By Keisha McDuffie/ne news editor
The NE forensics team brought home four awards from national competitions recently while speech students placed in an on-campus tournament.
At this year’s Phi Rho Pi National Speech tournament in Houston, the team won two individual bronze awards and two bronze sweepstakes awards.
Sponsored by North Harris College, 76 schools from around the country competed.
Two NE students qualified for the national team and competed in seven of the tournament’s events.
Lisa Benedetti, assistant professor of speech, and Alma Martinez-Egger, instructor of speech, accompanied Jennifer Christopher and Carlos Pinero to the five-day tournament.
Pinero competed in impromptu speaking, parliamentary debate, oral interpretation and prose interpretation.
Pinero placed at the bronze level for his impromptu speaking and prose interpretation.
It was also through Pinero’s high scores that NE Campus received the bronze sweepstakes award for
individual events in the Hindman division, the award for small-school entries.
The NE team also received the bronze sweepstakes award for the total of their over-all points.
“ Our focus is not the awards,” Benedetti said.
“ These students worked very hard to compete at the national Phi Rho Pi tournament. We are very proud of them,” she said.
This is Pinero’s first semester to be involved with the forensics program, but he will definitely be returning in the fall.
Pinero said he was extremely pleased with the results of the tournament and would not change a thing.
“ I was well prepared and received a great deal of help from the coaches. I was very pleased with the outcome,” he said. “I will be at TCC next year, and I hope to win the gold at the Phi Rho Pi 2008 tournament in Chicago.”
Phi Rho Pi is a national honor society for speech competitors in two-year colleges in the United States.
The purpose of the society is to promote educational forensic programs in individual junior and community colleges.
“ It’s been a blast,” Pinero said. “I competed in speech and debate in my junior and senior year of high school; however, my experience at TCC has been truly unique.”
Meanwhile, back on campus, speech students from various classes competed for local recognition April 20.
Judges recognized four students in oral interpretation. Cody Davis placed first; Michael Heisterkamp, second; Alex Scheild, third, and Jessica Cole, fourth.
Five students received awards in public speaking. Ambra Costner received first; Melissa Buchanan, second; Robyn Beach, third; Laura Cohnen, fourth, and Michael King, fifth.
Students interested in joining the forensics team in the fall should contact Benedetti at
lisa.benedetti@tccd.edu or one of the other forensics coaches: Irene Thrower, Alma Martinez-Egger and Amy Arellano.
