SRJC’s Forensic Team swept through the Phi Rho Pi community college national championship over the April 14 weekend in Chicago and brought home a stack of gold medals.

The Forensics Team won gold medals in the combined sweepstakes, debate and individual areas. The top two overall teams, decided by tallying points from debate and individual areas, were SRJC and the Lone Star College of Texas.

The National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) is the largest intercollegiate debate organization in the country and ranked SRJC the fourth community college in the nation. The NPDA ranks SRJC 21st in the nation out of the more than 220 colleges and universities it compiles.

Mariah Noah and Koji Takahashi won a gold medal in Parliamentary Debate in opposing the resolution that issues of class are more important than issues of race. Brenda Nelson and Kevin Steeper won a bronze medal in Parliamentary Debate.

Nelson also won an individual gold medal in the National Forensic Association Lincoln-Douglas debate focusing on U.S./China trade policy. Nelson is the first SRJC student to receive a medal in this event at national championships.

Nelson’s father, SRJC instructor Mark Nelson and co-director of forensics, was the first SRJC student to win a gold medal in the Cross Examination Debate Association Lincoln-Douglas event. The Phi Rho Pi’s executive committee awarded Nelson a special service award to acknowledge his many years of contributions to the forensics community.

Steeper won a gold medal in Extemporaneous Speaking on issues related to national and international affairs. He also won a bronze medal in Impromptu Speaking.

Noah also won a bronze medal for her speech to entertain on Internet privacy.

Members of SRJC’s Forensic Team get more from the tournaments than just competition. “My favorite part of being on the team is the relationships I’ve built with my teammates,” Noah said. “We celebrate our victories together and learn from our losses together.”

The team isn’t serious all the time. Noah, who wants to major in Rhetoric at UC Berkeley, said one of the coaches set up an Easter egg hunt in her hotel room. “[Nelson and I] immediately sprinted around the room yelling and laughing as we fought over the Easter eggs,” she said. After about an hour of games they settled down to eat their candy. “I’d have to say it was one of the silliest and most fun things I’ve ever done at a tournament,” Noah said.

Noah also likes meeting other students at competitions. “The people we interact with are some of the brightest minds in our colleges and some of the most amazing and caring people in the world,” she said.

Takahashi, a social psychology major, joined the Forensics Team because he was an introverted person and wanted to challenge himself to overcome that. “It was definitely the right decision,” he said. “I’ve grown so much more from being on the team than I have from any other part of my collegiate experience.”

Takahashi said he couldn’t imagine his life if he hadn’t joined the team and doesn’t want to. Also, his experience isn’t out of the ordinary. “It’s not uncommon for people to go from being terrified of the podium to being a beast behind it,” Takahashi said.

For more than 40 years, SRJC has offered students the opportunity to compete through the Forensics Team. “It is an invaluable learning opportunity whose lessons may be applied to virtually all activities,” said Hal Sanford, co-director of forensics.

Noah’s speech to entertain on Internet Privacy will be one of the featured presentations for the Forensic Team’s Speech Night, 7 p.m. May 8 in Newman Auditorium.