2008 Woodie Awards
This Isn't Your Grandfather's Speech Team
Ross Coleman
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Features
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Some people sky dive. Others ride motorcycles.
But then there are some who get a rush out of speech and debate.
Two and a half years ago GCC President John Davitt approached Jean Perry, the chair of Language Arts, and Ira Heffler, a language arts teacher, with the hopes of starting a speech and debate team at the college. Perry and Heffler took the idea and ran with it. They built up a solid program that gained respect not only in their league, but also around the state.
Enter head coach Josh Fleming. Fleming was hired fall 2006 at GCC after being a speech instructor and coach at Pasadena City College and Cal State L.A. He has been involved in Speech and Debate for 10 years, competing for four years, and he is now in his sixth year of coaching. He has also had the chance to coach at Northern Arizona University and Palomar College.
Glendale has built a very strong program in seemingly a short amount of time. Last year the team was able to compete in the national speech and debate tournament, finishing second among two-year schools. "We are so much like a family and there's so much worth and merit to it," says Heffler.
GCC speech and debate has grown from about 12 students to 40 members this semester.
"Approximately 40 students comprise our team. 10 are return competitors from last year. We've experienced quite a surge in interest in our team this year, so we've got roughly 30 new recruits this semester," said Fleming.
"We've grown like crazy, we are going to tournaments, we're getting a lot of trophies," added Heffler.
The speech and debate team competes in 16 tournaments a year, mostly local. They also compete in the California Community College Forensics Association State Championship Tournament in Concord and Phi Rho Pi Community College National Tournament in Chicago, both in the spring.
Speech and debate tournaments are in two phases: "The first part is speech. The speech part breaks down into three areas; Limited Preparation speaking, in which the speaker is given a topic and has a certain amount of time to prepare and speak on that topic. Then there's Platform speaking where speaker is give prepared, memorized speeches on a variety of topics and with a variety of objectives (for example: informative and persuasive speaking).
But then there are some who get a rush out of speech and debate.
Two and a half years ago GCC President John Davitt approached Jean Perry, the chair of Language Arts, and Ira Heffler, a language arts teacher, with the hopes of starting a speech and debate team at the college. Perry and Heffler took the idea and ran with it. They built up a solid program that gained respect not only in their league, but also around the state.
Enter head coach Josh Fleming. Fleming was hired fall 2006 at GCC after being a speech instructor and coach at Pasadena City College and Cal State L.A. He has been involved in Speech and Debate for 10 years, competing for four years, and he is now in his sixth year of coaching. He has also had the chance to coach at Northern Arizona University and Palomar College.
Glendale has built a very strong program in seemingly a short amount of time. Last year the team was able to compete in the national speech and debate tournament, finishing second among two-year schools. "We are so much like a family and there's so much worth and merit to it," says Heffler.
GCC speech and debate has grown from about 12 students to 40 members this semester.
"Approximately 40 students comprise our team. 10 are return competitors from last year. We've experienced quite a surge in interest in our team this year, so we've got roughly 30 new recruits this semester," said Fleming.
"We've grown like crazy, we are going to tournaments, we're getting a lot of trophies," added Heffler.
The speech and debate team competes in 16 tournaments a year, mostly local. They also compete in the California Community College Forensics Association State Championship Tournament in Concord and Phi Rho Pi Community College National Tournament in Chicago, both in the spring.
Speech and debate tournaments are in two phases: "The first part is speech. The speech part breaks down into three areas; Limited Preparation speaking, in which the speaker is given a topic and has a certain amount of time to prepare and speak on that topic. Then there's Platform speaking where speaker is give prepared, memorized speeches on a variety of topics and with a variety of objectives (for example: informative and persuasive speaking).
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