Ghost Eliason, 3rd in novice Dramatic Interpretation

Dominic Torres, 5th in novice Extemporaneous and 9th in novice IPDA

MJC Speech & Debate team members are national award-winners! The team travelled to Washington D.C. to represent the college at the national Phi Rho Pi tournament from April 10-15, 2023. Team members competed against students from 54 other community colleges from around the country. 

Results: Tristan Ceja earned Bronze in IPDA Debate. Kylie Duncan earned Bronze in Prose Interpretation and Persuasive Speaking. Cyndle Hillis earned Bronze in Impromptu Speaking. Brandon Reis earned Bronze in IPDA Debate and Impromptu Speaking. Ceja and Hillis also won won the Parliamentary Debate Bossard-Twohy Fellowship Award (see below). Congratulations to all of our NorCal colleagues and students--way to represent the region on the national stage! 

Tristan Ceja and Cyndle Hillis were given the Parliamentary Debate Bossard-Twohy Fellowship Award. This is an award where competitors rank their opponents based on who exhibits the finest qualities in Parliamentary Debate. Earning this award is not about win-loss records, and instead celebrates other traits that are key to success: camaraderie, intellect, and enthusiasm. 

RESULTS

MJC: 1st Place Sweepstakes Award

Tristan Ceja: 5th Place Impromptu.

Eve Dowdell: 1st Communication Analysis, 1st Persuasive.

Kylie Duncan: 2nd Persuasive; 3rd Prose; 4th Impromptu.

Cyndle Hillis: 1st Impromptu; 2nd Triathlon; 3rd Declamation; Bronze IPDA Debate; 5th Extemporaneous. 

Kayla Roslan: Gold in Novice IPDA; 1st Novice Impromptu.

Natalie Stanhope: 2nd Novice Impromptu; 3rd Informative (and Top Novice); 4th Persuasive.

The MJC Speech & Debate team traveled to the California Community College Forensics Association State Championship in Woodland Hills, CA from March 8-12, 2023. 

MJC students competed in IPDA Debate, Parliamentary Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Communication Analysis, Persuasive, and Prose. Collectively, the MJC squad earned enough points to take the 6th Place Limited Entry award at the State Championship.

Kylie Duncan took a Silver award in Impromptu. This is an event where speakers receive a random prompt and have only two minutes to prepare a substantive five minute speech. 

In IPDA Debate, Tristan Ceja took Bronze in an elimination round about whether raising the minimum wage would do more harm than good. 

MJC students competed in the sixth Online Asynchronous Tournament of the season. Kylie Duncan won 3rd Place in Open Prose Interpretation. Eve Dowdell took 5th Place in Open Persuasive Speaking. Tristan Ceja earned Top Novice in Extemporaneous Speaking.

The MJC Speech and Debate team traveled to Diablo Valley College from February 17-19, 2023 to compete in the Northern California Forensics Association Championship. MJC team members competed in IPDA Debate, Impromptu, Extemporaneous, Persuasive, Informative, Communication Analysis, and Prose Interpretation.

Results: In Platform Speaking, Kylie Duncan took 1st Place in Persuasive, becoming the top Persuasive Speaker in the Northern California region. Eve Dowdell took 3rd Place in Persuasive. Natalie Stanhope earned a Finalist award in Informative. In IPDA Debate, Brandon Reis took Gold and a 3rd Place Speaker's award. This reflects consistently high "speaker points," which are calculated separately from a debater's win-loss record. Tristan Ceja and Cyndle Hillis both won Bronze in IPDA Debate. In Impromptu, Ceja took 4th Place.

The MJC Speech & Debate team headed to Las Positas College from February 3-5 for the Talk Hawk Invitational. MJC students Tristan Ceja, Kylie Duncan, Jackeline Gandara, Cyndle Hillis, Brandon Reis, Jacob Stockburger, and Dominic Torres competed in IPDA Debate,  Impromptu Speaking, Prose Interpretation, and Persuasive Speaking over the weekend. 

Results: Kylie Duncan took 1st Place in Open Persuasive Speaking. Tristan Ceja took Gold in IPDA Debate, 3rd Place in Novice Impromptu, and 5th Place in SPAR Debate. Jackeline Gandara took Silver in IPDA debate and 2nd Place in SPAR Debate. Cyndle Hillis took 4th Place in SPAR Debate.

The MJC Speech & Debate team attended the Paul Winters Invitational at the University of the Pacific on November 6, 2022.

MJC Students Eve Dowdell, Kylie Duncan, Dean Zayed, and Natalie Aguila Stanhope competed at the tournament. Dowdell and Duncan made it to the final round of Persuasive Speaking, with Dowdell taking 1st Place and Duncan taking 3rd Place. 

The team competed at the Mustang Invitational, hosted by San Joaquin Delta College on November 4, 2022.

Team members Kylie Duncan, Eve Dowdell, and Dean Zayed participated in Persuasive and Impromptu Speaking. Zayed was recognized with a Finalist award in Novice Persuasive speaking. Duncan and Dowdell both made it into the Final round of Open Persuasive speaking. Duncan took 3rd Place while Dowdell took 1st Place. Together, the team earned MJC a 3rd Place Sweepstakes award.

Speech & Debate team members Eve Dowdell (upper left), Dean Zayed (upper right), Brandon Reis (lower left), and Kylie Duncan (lower right) participated in the Online Asynchronous Oats (OATS) tournament beginning October 24th. The speakers submitted videos of their competitive events, including speeches that advocated for ADA accommodations in drive-throughs; affordable college; housing as a human right; and protections for "kid-fluencers" on social media. 

Dowdell took 1st Place Persuasive speaker with her speech advocating for ADA accommodations in fast-food drive-throughs. Dowdell was the only community college student in a round stacked with powerhouse universities. 

The MJC Speech & Debate team traveled to the University of Nevada, Reno for the Biggest Little City Classic tournament on October 15, 2022.

Eve Dowdell (left) and Kylie Duncan (right) talked their way into final rounds. Dowdell took 3rd in Persuasive Speaking while Duncan took 5th in Persuasive Speaking and 3rd in Impromptu Speaking.

The Phi Rho Pi 2022 National Tournament was held in the historic city of St. Louis, MO.

From Left: MJC students Christina Peterson, Kylie Duncan, and Alexis Rangel.