The Moorpark College Forensics team was recognized as the top two-year school at the Spring Championship Tournament on the Moorpark College campus the weekend of Feb. 24 when students took home a total of 37 awards.

All of the Moorpark students who participated in the event “broke”, which means they all made it to the final round. 

“It was really nice seeing everyone break,” said 19-year-old communications major, Keith Corley. 

Over 600 students from 42 schools competed at the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association “Matt Taylor” Spring Championship Tournament at Moorpark College.

This was Moorpark College’s second consecutive year hosting the tournament, but the event has been going on for over 50 years at other schools around the state. The score that labeled Moorpark College as the top two-year was based on how many points the competitors accumulated throughout the weekend. The amount of points that Moorpark students earned as a whole was more than double the amount that the top four-year school earned.

Rolland Petrello was the head coordinator of the event. 

“The team did really well,” said Petrello. 

Judging by how the contestants did at the tournament, the coaches will pick who will compete at the state championships which will be held in Concord during spring break.  

During an average week, the forensics team spends an average of 20 hours practicing, while they spend 30 hours the week of a tournament.  Being on the team requires you to not only write, but also memorize multiple speeches at the same time. Amanda Bongiovanni, a 21-year-old communications major, says that the hardest part of being on the team is managing it all. 

Ashley Kohlbrand, 23-year-old political science major at Moorpark College says that being on the debate team requires competitors to keep up with current events all over the world because their debate topics can be on anything. 

Being on the team takes “a lot of time and a lot of energy but it’s totally worth it,” said Kohlbrand. “It’s a lot of fun though.”

Despite all of the difficulty of being on the team, some students say that they love it because the team is like a family. Danya Migdali, a 19-year-old English major with a minor in communications, is one of the students who feels this way. 

“There is such a sense of family,” said Migdali. 

Rudy Cornejo, a 20-year-old psychology major, is a first year member on the team. He says that he loves being a part of the team.

“It’s been one of the best experiences that I’ve had at Moorpark,” said Cornejo.

Moorpark student Harrison Sheer was just one of the many students that competed at the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association “Matt Taylor” Spring Championship hosted by non-other than Moorpark college. Harrison, along with his partner, argued that there should a be a more enforced law that should restrict paparazzi from taking photos of celebrities. (Sam Mora)