Rio Hondo College Newspaper

El Paisano

Rio Hondo College Newspaper

El Paisano

Rio Hondo College Newspaper

El Paisano

Forensics debate team

Rio Hondo College has a Forensics Speech and Debate program that at times goes under looked for its values that it poses.

After an interview with RHC’s new Forensics debate Coach Grant Tovmasian, its value was shared in what exactly it is and why it’s important to know it.

What is Forensics Speech and Debate? To understand that, we first need to understand what exactly forensics is.

Forensics is a science dedicated to the methodical gathering and analysis of evidence to establish facts that can be presented in a legal proceeding. It originated in Ancient Greece as the Greeks had no attorneys present and had to speak on their own behalf if they wanted to accuse somebody.

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Our Forensics Speech and Debate class here at RHC teaches the same skills that help one argue a resolution. There are two types of debates that they practice: parliamentary debates and team debates, where teams are given a resolution to debate on.

On Friday, September 21, Fullerton College hosted the EARLY BIRD Forensics Tournament where some of our very own students competed.

There was three rounds offered of Public Forum Debate, and two rounds of Individual Events (persuasion and/or informative).

Tournaments can run up to fourteen topics in which the students only have twenty minutes to prepare for a particular resolution.

This last weekend was the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association’s Forensics Learning Seminar. It’s an annual event that showcases the best of the best in each competitive category.

Rio Hondo’s Vanessa Cazares was selected to perform her nationally award winning Prose Oral Interpretation performance. We had 20 students and 2 coaches attend. It was a success and students learned more about the level of competition and how to prepare to be champions.

Students might ask, why should they be interested in joining? Being a part of the Forensics team will help you work on your public speaking skills, alongside with your argumentation skills, logic skills, and world information.

These skills are not only helpful to compete but are applied in everyday life. To anyone with any questions or are interested in joining the Forensics Speech and Debate team they can contact Forensics Coordinator Libby Curiel at [email protected]

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