Rio Hondo’s Speech and Debate Team returned from their first tournament of the semester that took place at El Camino College, with four awards of “Excellency” on Sept. 25.

Rio Hondo sent a total of 21 students to compete which consisted of 10 teams competing in the National Parliamentary Debate Association rounds with eight new members and two open teams.

The NPDA is about encouraging extemporaneous two-on-two debate.

The first and second round topic was Kanye West would make a better President than Donald Trump. 

There was a total of four rounds with each team having to persuade their judge on why they should vote for the respective party.

Second year member of Rio Hondo Debate team member Samantha Recinos stated that “I am glad they started warms up with this topic. A lot of new members this semester were really nervous going into the rounds, but hearing that the topic was based on Kanye West made the new members a little less nervous.”

Rio Hondo’s team is full of new memebers this semester. None of the new members knew exactly what to expect going into the first two rounds. New member Glenn Marshall joined the debate team to fight his fear of public speaking. “Honestly, I had the best time at warms ups. I was really nervous going into the rounds, but knowing that the first topic was about Kanye West… I knew I was going to beat the other team. After walking out and knowing I won, my nerves were gone and I was ready for the next two rounds.”

The third and fourth round topics were announced which was, The European Union should significantly increase it’s efforts to alleviate the migrant crisis. 

After the four rounds were over, each school gathered at the El Camino Music hall where awards were announced.

Rio Hondo winners included two novice teams consisting of Apolo Ayala, Malea Meza, Stephanie Hernandez, Glenn Marshall, and Christian Torres.

Forensic member Stephanie M. Lopez stated that she is ready to take on the next competition with full force.

Coaches Libby Curiel and Grant Tovmasian have been and are very supportive and show just as much dedication to the team as the students.

The team has already started to prepare for their next tournament.

The team’s weekly homework assignments include studying international relations and understanding the history of several countries.

The Rio Hondo Forensics Debate team’s next tournament will take place at Irvine Valley College, Oct. 9 (NPDA) and Oct 23 (IPDA).