There’s not much of an offseason for members of the Moraine Valley Community College Speech and Debate team.
After winning its second consecutive national championship, the team is preparing to get back at it.
In April, Moraine Valley prevailed over teams from 55 junior and community colleges at the Phi Rho Pi National Speech and Debate Tournament in Bethesda, Maryland.
It’s a feeling that will never be forgotten, said sophomore Kandyce Swain, 19, of Blue Island.
“It was something else. I’ve been doing speech for five years and to be winning such a big tournament like this was amazing. It was awesome and mind-blowing. I’m incredibly grateful,” Swain said.
Team members gave speeches that were eight to nine minutes long. Swain’s effort earned her a gold medal at nationals.
Aidan McGuire, of Mokena; Oswaldo Ocampo, of Burbank; Lydia Gracia, of Justice; and Gabe Dunkle, of Tinley Park also delivered gold medal speeches at the event.
Ocampo also won the Warren-Dahlin Student Fellowship Award for best representing the ideals of Phi Rho Pi, a nonprofit organization committed to increasing knowledge and appreciation of the forensic arts at the junior and community college level, according to the group’s website.
Chayse Mueller, of Worth, and Julian Zubrzycki, of Chicago, were also on the national champion squad.
Just like athletic teams, speech and debate teams practice often.
“Just to be well-prepared, we start practicing in the summer,” said Swain, who is majoring in information technology. “We start in June, July. That way, when speech season starts in October, we are ready.”
Moraine Valley was more than ready as the team racked up several victories at tourneys heading to the national title encore.
Team captain McGuire, 19, is a sophomore who plans to transfer to a university that offers film school and, of course, a good speech team.
“It came down to a team effort,” he said. “We had a special team. Everyone was dedicated to their events, good at speech and good at being friends with each other, developing that good team spirit. You need that to succeed.
“And our coaches are phenomenal.”
More Top Picks Best Razer Blade Laptops
John Nash is the head coach. Krista Applequist is the assistant coach, and two team alumni, Jeff Rieck and Chayse Mueller, returned to help out as well. Nash and Applequist teach communication and speech classes at Moraine Valley. Other coaches include Natalie Jurcik and Damian Samsoniwicz.
Students write speeches in August “and evolve throughout the whole (school) year,” McGuire said.
There are different categories for speeches. Some are informational, some entertain.
“A big thing is memorizing the words you are saying and actually understanding them,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff to do outside the actual speech to help prepare you so you know what you are saying.”
He thinks the cohesive nature of Moraine Valley’s team led to success. So did sticking to what works best.
“We didn’t compete in any debate events at nationals. I was the only one who did any debate all season, just for fun. We’re not a debate-focused team,” McGuire said.
Even without entering into any debate events, “we usually end up winning just with the amount of points we get in speech events,” he said.
“We know where our strength is. It works out well for us.”
Speech appeals to him because “it’s the power of being able to use your voice.”
“There’s a lot of people in this world and a lot of places in this world that, unfortunately, can’t have the opportunity to use their voice. It’s important to realize it’s a privilege to have,” McGuire said. “It’s really cool to do something you’re passionate about it and tell it to the world.”
The day before nationals began, Nash and the coaches took the team to the White House and Holocaust Museum in Washington. Those visits made an impact.
“We talked about the importance of having a voice and what might happen when a person’s voice is silenced. I think this fueled them,” Nash said in a statement. “They began to realize that public speaking is not about winning. It is about using your voice to make a positive change in the world.”
There was one drawback to winning the national crown.
“That night was our flight so we didn’t have time to celebrate,” Swain said. “But I am quite sure if we were (there) another day, our coaches would have done something for us.”
Moraine Valley will shoot for a three-peat at next year’s nationals set for March 31 to April 6 in Reno, Nevada.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.