Forensics Team Wins First Place at Final Tournament of the Season

Forensics studentsFourteen students represented the Cerritos College forensics (speech and debate) team at the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association's online Cool-Off tournament on May 1 and 2.  Cerritos College won overall first place sweepstakes award for the tournament, beating out 16 other community colleges from across Southern California, Arizona, Washington and Wyoming. 

The Cool-Off caps a season-long run of online success for the forensics team. A total of 27 students participated in 14 forensics tournaments, winning accolades at local and state championship tournaments along the way. Team members took home speech awards:

Dramatic interpretation: 1st place (Nathaly Guerrero)

Extemporaneous speaking: 1st place (Angel Sanabria)

Extemporaneous speaking: 2nd place (Stephanie Serrano)

Informative speaking: 1st place (Lilianne Romero)

Poetry interpretation: 2nd place (Sara Sanchez)

Poetry interpretation: finalist (Madison Criollo)

Prose interpretation: 2nd place (Nathaly Guerrero) 

The Cerritos forensics team is coached by team director Nick Matthews and part-time coaches Selene Aguirre and Rebecca Gonzalez. The team is actively recruiting students for the 2021-2022 season. No prior speech or debate experience is required. Students who are interested in joining the team are encouraged to contact Nick Matthews at nmatthews@cerritos.edu for more information.