PIERCE COLLEGE : Debate Team Competes Nationally

The Pierce College debate team is among 70 community colleges from across the country competing in the Phi Rho Pi National Speech Championships through Friday in St. Louis.

“We’re riding high on a wave of confidence,” said team member Tristen Lazareff.

Lazareff and debate team member Dan Little earned the title of California Community College Team Debate Champions at the state speech championships earlier this month in Sacramento.

The Pierce team won six awards and was among 32 colleges competing at the state level. Lazareff and Little’s winning debate was how advertising has degraded the quality of life in the United States.

Little said although he and Lazareff won the title, “it was really a team effort.” Each of the 12 team members contributed research, he said.

Todd Guy, Pierce’s director of forensics, said he believed the college’s seven team members will do well in national competition because debate teams from California schools are generally the strongest in the country.

“We’ve had the luxury of being able to compete against the top debaters in the country,” Guy said.