The EPCC Forensics Program took the Excellent Individual and Overall Events Sweepstakes Award in the national competition in Chicago.
“I believe that this year’s team won due to 
very hard work,” said Keith Townsend, faculty adviser.
“The major obstacle is not one that I have to directly deal with,” said Townsend, “but one that the student competitors have to continually handle - managing coursework, outside employment, team objectives, competition preparation, rehearsal and travel.”
Joel Marquez, who will be the team’s captain this fall, won the silver medal.
“Naturally I wanted to win the gold, so I was a little disappointed, but then I realized that this is a nationwide competition, and I made it this far, especially this being my first year at Forensics,” Marquez said.
On May 2, he will be performing his winning poetry reading at the Rio Grande campus “Borderland Speech Challenge” event at 2 p.m.
Reina Banuelos des-cribed the experience as demanding, but rewarding.
“It takes a lot of your time, and you have to be truly dedicated, but it’s well worth it,” she said. “You get so much out of it besides winning trophies, like meeting new people and learning how to speak well in public.”
According to Townsend, the program’s objective is to provide an opportunity for students to participate competitively in intercollegiate public address, oral interpretation, debate, theater performance and production against other students throughout the nation.
“When I was hired in 2001, the team was going through a transition, and it was a perfect time to take the team from a good regional team to a top national team,” Townsend said.
“I have always believed that if you teach students good ethics and honorable sportsmanship, then the winning will take care of itself,” said Townsend. “This has certainly proven true for the EPCC team.”
According to Townsend, the EPCC team has been successful since 2001.
“Each year, we have placed at nationals. In the first couple of years, we were in the top 25 in the nation and in the third and fourth years, we were in the top 10,” said Townsend.
However, he doesn’t just attribute the repeated wins to the talented students.
“The administration of EPCC has been extremely supportive of our team’s efforts,” said Townsend. “They have secured the funding for the program and have been very receptive to our needs. Without their support, this competitive academic program would not exist.”
Communication and Performing Arts Dean Claude Mathis shared his thoughts on the team’s success.
“We’re very proud of the team and the coaches,” he said.
“This shows that students can be successful at competitive environments, and this institution supports the EPCC Forensics team.”
