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POWELL, Wyo. - Three members of the Northwest College Forensics Team qualified for the American Forensic Association’s 2011 National Individual Events Tournament, but that’s all it took to claim third place sweepstakes at the prestigious event.
Shelby Moore and Glenn Prell of Powell teamed with Laci Kennedy of Townsend, Mont., to best all other two-year-college teams except two. Lone Star College-North Harris, a community college in Houston, Texas, placed first, followed by Kansas City Community College in Kansas.
The three NWC orators competed in impromptu, informative, extemporaneous, poetry, persuasive and communication analysis events.
“I’m really proud of these students,” said Fred Ebert, one of the team’s coaches. “Only the best of the best compete at this tournament. Not a lot of community college students go to the NIET because they have to qualify while competing against students from four-year schools. Neither Shelby, Glen nor Laci broke into finals but they all delivered such strong preliminary-round performances, their earned points shot them to third overall.”
It’s been six years since NWC sent students to the NIET, according to Ebert. “We’ve qualified students since then,” he said, “but this tournament falls at the end of the year and is usually pretty far away. Our funding doesn’t always stretch that far. But things worked out this year — NIET was in Nebraska so it was less expensive to attend, and President Prestwich was able to supplement our budget.”
The NWC Forensics Team closes the year April 11-16 at the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament in Greenwich, Conn.