The LCC Fighting Smelt Speech & Debate Team finished the Northwest Forensics Conference (NFC) season in second place and were awarded the NFC Division III Silver Sweepstakes award last weekend.
This award means that LCC had the second best season of all community colleges in the conference, which represents Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Alaska. The Fighting Smelt finish second behind only the College of Western Idaho (Nampa, ID).
Sweepstakes awards were presented to schools at the conclusion of the Viking Invitational Tournament, hosted by Western Washington University, January 25-27. In this tournament, the Fighting Smelt took first place in 2-year college sweepstakes. This result was a team effort, with several individual competitors earning sweepstakes points.
Samantha Cohen of Kelso placed first in novice Dramatic Interpretation with her performance of A Piece of My Heart, a play that explores the contributions of women in the Vietnam War and the struggles that they faced even after returning home. Cohen also competed in IPDA debate and finished with a 3-2 record.
Mitchell Levy of Kelso was named second place speaker in junior IPDA debate. He also competed in Extemporaneous, Informative, and Impromptu speaking.
Ayesha Ahmed of Cathlamet advanced to the final round of novice Extemporaneous Speaking, and placed sixth for her speech answering the question, “should the United States reduce its military aid to Israel?” Ahmed also competed in Persuasive and Impromptu speaking.
Lydia Partridge of Longview and Eli Tovar of Castle Rock both earned their first wins in NFC competition, and both finished with 3-2 records. Partridge additionally competed in Prose Interpretation and Impromptu Speaking. Tovar competed in Persuasive and Impromptu speaking.
Next up for LCC Speech and Debate is the Earl Wells Memorial Speakeasy hosted by Oregon State University, held over President’s Day weekend.
Pictured left to right: Eli Tovar, Ayesha Ahmed, Lydia Partridge, Samantha Cohen, Glenn John Cervantes, Mitchell Levy.
For additional information contact Alex Brehm, Director of Forensics and Communication Studies Instructor, at abrehm@lowercolumbia.edu.