As Speech and Debate director Cindy Phu and head coaches Allan Axibal-Cordero and Jay Arntson were breaking down the syllabus, explaining events, and outlining upcoming tournaments on the first day of class, student Laura Davila listened nervously while already deciding when to drop. Her plan of escape was interrupted once introductory icebreakers started and she was required to introduce herself.
Forensics wins Team Bronze despite financial cons
After succeeding at the State level, PCC‘s Speech and Debate (Forensics) continued to well-represent both themselves and their campus by ranking third nationwide, earning a prestigious team award called “Team Bronze,” in the Phi Rho Pi Nationals competition in Washington D.C. during spring break.
Debate’s priceless push to Nationals
PCC’s award-winning Speech and Debate (Forensics) members’ second home is the basement level of the C building. The hallway holds a collage of old and new successful forensics members and a case crowded with trophies, and behind the doors are forensics members either laughing, crying, or advocating for social change.
Forensics team gears up for Fall Championship
The C building hallway, rooms C109, C111, and the Little Theater, were filled with diligent speech and debate team members rehearsing with each other and talking to walls to prepare for the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association (PSCFA) Fall Championship.
Forensics’ Yong, a rising star
On the subterranean level of the C building, beneath the halls where sound of students reverb, in a small, quiet room between an overlooked trophy case and a wall-turned-photo collage sits Shannon Yong, biology major.
Speech and Debate showcase turns into night of fun
She took the stage and had the audience laughing for the next seven minutes. It wasn’t stand-up comedy, but Alexis Arredondo of the PCC Speech and Debate Team.
Small town girl with a huge voice
A small town Louisiana girl can feel out of place within the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles’s many suburbs, like Pasadena. When Alicia Batice needs some time to settle, she’s unwinding in front of the Veteran’s Memorial Wall where the pine trees and the distant voices remind her of Franklinton, a small town she once called home. “Louisiana’s quieter, but California’s so busy,” the communications major said. “Everyone’s on the go. Nobody has time to just take it in. I’m like, ‘Everything’s so beautiful!’ …
Lighting the competitive fuse
Alexis Arredondo has a lot on her mind: six classes, daily speech and debate practices, an upcoming One-Acts play, a string of competitions this semester, and lines on top of lines that she recites in her head when she wakes up, showers, puts on her makeup, and even when she’s on break. But unlike most energy drink-fueled college students, Arredondo looks as though she’s had a full eight hours of sleep. If there’s one thing a performing arts academy has taught her in the past, …