As longtime forensics coach Jim Wyman retires, the Moorpark College forensic team he mentored took third place in the National Forensic Competition on April 11.

The team has competed in the nationals 37 times, coming in first eight times. This year, the team took third place with over a 60 point margin. Annie Block-Weiss, a member of the team, attributed the success to her teammates.

“I would definitely say that it was our teamwork that pulled us through,” said Block-Weiss. “Every time a team member didn’t have a round to compete in, they would head over to see another members round and cheer them on.”

As his final major competition, the Director of Forensics, Wyman, will be stepping down from his position and taking up a part-time coaching one next year. Wyman has been with the Moorpark College Forensics team for over 37 years.

“The team will not be impacted appreciably,” said Wyman. “We have four coaches remaining who will serve the program well. In the last few years I focused on debate and Extemp and Impromptu because we had other coaches to work in the other competitive areas. For most of my coaching career, I coached in all the events.”

With the school’s budget in its current state, Moorpark College will not be hiring a new coach for some time. Luckily, none of the other coaches are looking at retiring anytime soon.

Rolland Petrello, the long-time and now senior member of the coaching staff, views Wyman’s retirement differently.

“The impact will be enormous. Aside from being a wonderful teacher and leader, Jim has been one of the finest debate coaches in the nation over the course of his career. I think our students showing at the NPDA tournament attests to this. The NPDA nationals is an almost exclusively 4-year university Debate Championships and no community college in the country has come even close to achieving the level of success there that our students have.”

The term forensics is a Greek word meaning “to search for the truth.” The activity is properly named because the speakers seek truth in their debates.