The DVC speech and debate team competed in multiple events on Oct. 24-26 against 25 two- and four-year schools, including UC Davis and UC Berkeley.

This event, hosted by DVC, was called the Kevin Twohy Memorial Invitational and consisted of policy, parliamentary and individual competitions.

The parliamentary rounds seemed to be the most difficult, since no one knew the topics beforehand and had only 20 minutes to prepare and get to the designated areas.

One of the first topics given out was: Should the U.S. government become more socialized?

Kevin Powell and Alex Regali debated this subject against two students from Chabot College. While Powell and Regali said this country should be more socialized because “all men were created equal,” the other team argued it would take away the “American dream on which this country was founded.”

After each parliamentary debate, everyone trooped back to the Main Quad for another topic and started the process all over again. This went on for about five hours on Friday and Saturday.

There were two award ceremonies during the weekend where the winners were announced and finalists given the “one-clap” ritual to show their special standing.

Craig Pasillas and Frank Ramierz learned Sunday they qualified for Nationals, which will be held in Ohio. In this competition, they took the top spots in the final rounds of open prose, open duo, and open dramatic interpretation.

Pasillas said, “You get to meet so many people from all over that are doing the exact same things that you are doing. It will be great to be around all these brilliant minds.”

Other winners included Mark Luna (4th place, novice persuasion) and Erica Hosch (5th place, novice informative). Angelo Ables and Kamran Amintaheri also defeated two students from Columbia College in the elimination parliamentary rounds.

The next events will be the Paul Winters Invitational / Kennedy / Mustang Speech and Debate Tournaments Nov. 7-9 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.