A team of eight represented Rio Hondo college for a week at the national Phi Ro Pi tournament held in Washington D.C. The team went up against opponents from all around the nation. Melissa De Leon, Patricia Hughes, Jonathan Kaldas, Kevork Abechian, Rodolfo (Rudy) Antonio Juarez-Pinedo, Tyerra Boyd, Summer Gomez, and Saul Garcia were accompanied by their debate coach Grant Tovmasian as they left Saturday evening to prepare for the week long tournament held at The Sheraton Hotel.

The Speech and Debate tournament consisted of numerous competitions ranging from dramatic interpretations, platform speeches, to various styles of debate. The team competed in IPDA Debate (International Public Debate Association), parliamentary debate, and NPDA Debate.

After going up against numerous challenging contenders, the team ended the tournament strong bringing home 3 trophies (2 bronze, 1 silver) in IPDA Debate won by De Leon, Kaldas, and Hughes.

“This win is not just for me, this is a win for Rio Hondo at the national level. Aside from spending quality time with my team and friends we’ve made along the way, winning silver was a great way to end my experience in forensics” said De Leon who’s transferring from Rio Hondo at the end of this semester.

“Nationals was an amazing experience to go against debaters from all over the country; the competition was really challenging but overall fun. What made it memorable was spending time with my teammates and coach. Whether we were competing or sight seeing I genuinely enjoyed spending time with them.” said Kaldas who was awarded bronze in IPDA Debate.