The Santa Rosa Junior College Forensics team is in the midst of another successful season and on pace to qualify for the state and national championships next March and April.
Along with overall success across events, SRJC holds nationally ranked first and fourth place in Community College Parliamentary debate teams as ranked by the National Parliamentary Debate Association.
The NDPA is the largest intercollegiate debate organization in the country, featuring roughly 250 schools.
For those who think of CSI and David Caruso when the term comes up, forensics actually refers to competitive speech and debate. Competitions are similar to those in track and field, where participants show of their rehtoric in a mix of different events. Events are divided into two categories: debate and individual.
Debates can be either one on one, in what are called Lincoln-Douglas debates, or two-person teams, a parliamentary debate. In a Lincoln Douglas debate, participants are given the topic ahead of time, such as trade relations with China, and then debate a certain aspect of that topic.
In parliamentary debate, teams are told their topic at the start of the competition and told whether to argue in an affirmative or negative stance. They are then given 20 minutes to research and prepare their arguments.
Individual events include impromptu, on-the-spot speaking, poetry and dramatic interpretations of literature, among others.
The SRJC team has a history of success. In the NDPA, there are two separate rankings; a community college ranking and a second ranking, which includes four-year institutions. Since 2008, SRJC’s yearly program has ranked sixth, second and fourth among community colleges. Among all colleges, it has placed eighth, 11th, 18th and 22nd.
This year, the team holds a similar ranking to last year. Program director Mark Nelson thinks the team will be “very competitive by the end of the year at state and national championships.” However despite the team’s success, Nelson said they’re “not in it for team trophies…[we’re] in it for individuals to grow and learn.” On trophies, he, added, “It is nice when you get them though.”
The first place team of Brenda Nelson and Kevin Steeper, and the fourth place team of Mariah Noah and Jacob Christianson, make Santa Rosa Junior College the only community college in the country with two teams ranked in the top six.
Forensics tournaments differ from athletic tournaments in that they pit community colleges against four-year institutions like Cal Berkeley and UCLA. According to Nelson, SRJC tends to hold its own against them.
The season is long and arduous, starting in September and ending in April. Co-Director of Forensics Hal Sanford said that he gauges the season on the outcome of March’s Community College State Championships and the Community College National Championships in April.
The next tournament is in Los Angeles during the first week of December.