Tournament Results
Fall 2022-Spring 2023 Tournament Results
Spring Fling
MJC Speech and Debate finished the semester at the NCFA Spring Fling novice tournament. Ghost Eliason took 3rd in novice Dramatic Interpretation while Dominic Torres took 5th in novice Extemporaneous and 9th in novice IPDA Debate. Graduating team member Kylie Duncan was recognized with the Robert Hawes Student Judge award. The team is looking forward to the 2023-2024 season!
Ghost Eliason, 3rd in novice Dramatic Interpretation
Dominic Torres, 5th in novice Extemporaneous and 9th in novice IPDA
Phi Ro Pi Nationals
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!
Bossard-Twohy Fellowship Award
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.
Hornet Cup: MJC Takes 1st Place
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.
CCCFA State Championship
The MJC Speech & Debate team traveled to the California Community College Forensics Association State Championship in Woodland Hills, CA from March 8-12, 2023.
Tournament Results
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, CCCFA State Champion
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.
Tristan Ceja, CCCFA State Champion
In IPDA Debate, Tristan Ceja took Bronze in an elimination round about whether raising the minimum wage would do more harm than good.
Online Asynchronous Tournament #6
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.
NCFA Championship
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.
Tournament Results
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.
Bronze in IPDA Debate
4th Place in Impromptu
3rd Place in Persuasive Speaking
1st Place in Persuasive Speaking
Bronze in IPDA Debate
First-time competitor in Prose
Gold in IPDA Debate
3rd Place Top Speaker
Finalist in Informative Speaking
Talk Hawk Invitational
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.
Tournament Results
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.
Debate, Impromptu
Prose, Persuasive, Impromptu
Debate
Debate
Debate
Debate, Impromptu
Impromptu
Online Asynchronous Tournament #5
Kylie Duncan participated in the Online Asynchronous Tournament #5 hosted on January 20, 2023. Duncan swept into the final round and took 2nd Place in Open Persuasive Speaking. Her speech advocates for stronger protections of "kid-fluencers," or children who make monetized content on social media platforms. To view her advocacy website, visit this link: Child Labor Laws Reformation.
Paul Winters Invitational
The MJC Speech & Debate team attended the Paul Winters Invitational at the University of the Pacific on November 6, 2022.
Tournament Results
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.
Mustang Invitational
The team competed at the Mustang Invitational, hosted by San Joaquin Delta College on November 4, 2022.
Tournament Results
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.
OATS #2
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.
1st Place Persuasive Speaker
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.
Reno, Nevada
The MJC Speech & Debate team traveled to the University of Nevada, Reno for the Biggest Little City Classic tournament on October 15, 2022.
Tournament Results
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.
San Francisco, CA
The Speech & Debate team competed in the Golden Gate Opener from Oct. 1-2 at San Francisco State University.
MJC Speaks Up
Team members Eve Dowdell (left) and Kylie Duncan (right) represented MJC. Both won hard-earned awards in Persuasive Speaking.
Tournament Results
On Day 1, Eve Dowdell won Top Novice and Kylie Duncan took 4th Place in Open Persuasive Speaking. On Day 2, Dowdell earned 4th Place while Duncan took 5th Place.
Speech & Debate Camp
MJC Speech and Debate team members Kylie Duncan (left) and Eve Dowdell (right) kicked off the fall season with a day at the Northern California Speech and Debate Camp. The camp took place on September 10, 2022 at Sacramento State University. Students participated in a full day of workshops followed by practice rounds. The team is looking forward to their first tournament of the semester in San Francisco, CA.
Fall 2021-Spring 2022 Tournament Results
Spring Fling Season Awards
The Northern California Forensics Association Spring Fling tournament took place on April 30, 2022. MJC students Samantha Ho, Willow Styczinski, and Grant Wise represented the college. The students spoke on a range of issues including Persuasive speeches addressing the problematic practice of hormone testing in athletics; the urgent need for accessible healthcare; and a Prose that illustrated the significance of "loving thy neighbor" in a story about community and connection. Recent graduates were also recognized with End of Season awards, including Christina Peterson who won Top Platformer and Alexis Rangel, who was given the Student Judging Award. Finally, MJC alum Bailey Coleman won the New Coach Award recognizing her hard work after a year of volunteering with the team (and judging at nearly every tournament of the season). The squad is looking forward to a new competitive season in Fall 2022.
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.
MJC's Historic Win
The MJC Speech & Debate team travelled to Missouri for the 2022 Phi Rho Pi National Championship. Kylie Duncan, Christina Peterson, and Alexis Rangel represented Modesto Junior College in the tournament, where more than 40 colleges from around the country participated.
The students spoke on issues ranging from innovative desalination technology, street art in Afghanistan, and the lasting personal effects of war.
In addition to the students' individual successes, MJC earned several sweepstakes awards including the Mariner Perpetual Sweepstakes award. MJC has sought this award for over 50 years and it represents the cumulative efforts of coaches and students from the school over the last several decades. It was a particularly special win, since the MJC team also celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
1st Place National Champs
The Speech & Debate team participated in the National Online Forensics Championship from March 17-20. Students Kylie Duncan, Christina Peterson, and Alexis Rangel were all recognized with awards in their events, including a 1st Place Individual Sweepstakes award for Alexis Rangel who was recognized as the top speaker at the tournament. Together, these three students earned a 1st Place National Championship title for Modesto Junior College.