The El Camino College debate team recently returned from a successful showing at the Spring Championships as the top-ranked community college in the nation. The rankings, determined by the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA), also ranked El Camino College No. 4 among four-year college and universities.
A perennial powerhouse, the ECC debate team has dominated the competition this season. During the winter, the top team of Zara Andrabi and Curtis Wang traveled to the Mile High Tournament in Salt Lake City, and was the only community college team to advance to elimination rounds. The team won four elimination rounds, beating the No. 1 ranked team in the nation along the way, finally losing in the final round and taking second overall. Curtis was named the top individual speaker at the tournament and Zara and Curtis are the ninth-ranked debate pair in the nation! Most ranked debate teams are seniors or at least juniors so it’s very impressive that a pair of sophomores made it to the top 10.
The debate team also competed in “Winter at the Beach” at California State University, Long Beach, a tournament that draws national competition. ECC’s junior-level debaters “closed out semi-finals,” meaning of the four teams that advanced to elimination rounds, all were from El Camino College. ECC’s top team finished second, beating the best teams from across the nation.
Debate students are coached by Professor Francesca Bishop, director of forensics, and debate professors Mark Crossman and Joseph Evans. The team’s next competition is the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence in Pueblo, Colorado on March 17.