By Gary Collins/ne news editor
The NE Speech and Debate Club struck gold recently in forensics competition.
Coach Amy Arellano said the students competed in a novice tournament, allowing first-time competitors to get their feet wet before going on to other college competitions.
The event, sponsored by TCC, pitted NE students against those from El Centro College in Dallas, Tyler Junior College, Cy-Fair College in Cypress, Del-Mar College in Corpus Christi and Northwestern University in Louisiana.
TCC won third place in the overall sweepstakes and came in third again in the individual events sweepstakes.
Carlos Piñero took first place in the poetry category. He performed several pieces on what he sees as the absurdities of political correctness.
“ I think most political correctness is kind of stupid,” he said.
Aubrey Garner took third place in prose with a reading from The House on Beartown Road, a memoir by Elizabeth Cohen. The book chronicles Cohen’s father’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease and its deteriorating condition.
“ It was exciting [to win] because I can only go up in competitions,” he said. “But with more work and practice, I will do better next year.”
Stephanie Davenport won second in dramatic interpretation.
Davenport said her mother, a perfectionist, was the inspiration for the interpretation.
“ I love getting up and performing because I’m an acting major,” she said. “Most people think that speech debate is all about talking, but there is acting too.”
This contest was her second semester of competition. Davenport was curious about her competition.
“ I was looking forward to seeing my competition, to see what they had to offer and what pieces they did,” she said.
Davenport won second place.
With three years of high school experience behind her, Emylee Piñero placed in two categories.
“ I didn’t expect to win because I’d never been in college forensics before,” she said.
Piñero won first in oral interpretation and third in poetry.
“ It was really exciting to win,” she said. “I worked very hard on it, and it paid off. Winning just makes me want to continue working.”
Piñero’s poetry voiced a woman who watched her children get crushed to death in 1989 while driving across a bridge.
In oral interpretation, Piñero spoke about family and the effects autism has on those with autism and their families.
Ambra Costner took second place in communication analysis and first in persuasive speaking. This is her first semester in college competition.
“ The people are great. We have a blast going around meeting new people,” she said. “And it’s also fun to come up with new topics.”
In the competition, Costner talked about Live Earth concerts promoting global awareness.
Costner was a bit disappointed with her results.
“I expected to win first place but I got second,” she said. “But that just shows me that I need to work harder.”
The NE Campus club is open to students interested in speech communication and forensic activities. Members can participate in individual debate and speech activities, compete for trophies and gain speaking experience.
