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POWELL, Wyo. - The Northwest College Forensics Team is ranked among the best in the nation so consistently, it would almost be more newsworthy to report a slip in the rankings. But that’s not the case as once again, the NWC team is riding high in the recently released National Parliamentary Debate Association rankings.
NWC holds the 20th place spot among all 151 colleges and universities that received debate points for the fall semester. The team sits in fourth place among community colleges.
With 62.56 points to its claim, Northwest was barely bested by the likes of the University of Texas at Tyler with 64.83 points, Rice University (65.30), University of Utah (65.54) and University of California, Berkeley (70.16).
One of NWC’s two-member debate teams received a first-round bid to the exclusive National Parliamentary Tournament for Excellence by being ranked 39th in the nation. Only the top 50 teams are invited to compete at the prestigious tournament in March. Quintin Brown of Billings, Mont., and Claire Garman of Townsend, Mont., will be there to represent Northwest.
In order to be ranked, individual teams must compete in the open division at tournaments, which is analogous to varsity level of sports, which means they’re competing against mostly juniors and seniors. The NWC forensics coaches estimate there are roughly 1,700 open division teams competing nationally for a spot in the rankings. Of that number, 510 teams have received ranking points this semester.
Northwest College is one of only three community colleges that have ever received invitations to the NPTE.