Congratulations to our forensics and journalism students for an outstanding year! The El Camino College forensics team recently repeated as Debate National Champions at the Phi Rho Pi Community College National tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida. ECC students outscored all other teams. In overall competition (debate and individual speaking events) ECC placed forth out of 68 schools. In March, the team traveled to Portland, Oregon for the National Parliamentary Debate National Tournament, a competition primarily for four-year colleges and universities. ECC was the only two-year institution to advance teams to elimination rounds (advancing two teams) and repeated as Community College National Champions. Congrats to the students on the El Camino College forensics nationals team: Victoria Marshall (team president), Leia Yen (vice president), Christopher Bickel, Mina Deshler, Tatiana Gionnet, Damon Lawson, Rachel Lobo, Mika Okabi, John Masi, Samal Senaranta, Jon Spain, and Raquel Tahvildari. Debate students are coached by professor Francesca Bishop, director of forensics, and debate professors Mark Crossman and Joseph Evans.

ECC student publications and individual journalism students also exceled this spring, winning a dozen awards in two competitions. The Union newspaper and Warrior Life magazine were honored for placing in the top 10 in "Best of Show" contest at the Associated Collegiate Press national conference, March 1-3 in Long Beach. The Union took sixth-place honors, while Warrior Life was ranked eighth in on-site competitions against publications from across the country. Meanwhile, ECC journalists and publications won 10 awards from the California College Media Association, which announced its winners at a separate event held in conjunction with the three-day ACP conference. Karla Henry took first place in the community college division for best news video with her "Girls in the Garage" presentation while Don Perez was awarded a second in the non-news video category for "Librarian of Horror." He also received a third-place award for his feature story on the same subject for The Union. Jorge Villa was honored with a second-place award for best magazine photo for his centerpiece photo accompanying the story "Amor y Tragedia." Villa also received an honorable mention for a photo illustration in The Union for a collage of food.

The Union picked up third-place awards in its class for best overall newspaper design and best newspaper front page while also taking the honorable mention slot for overall newspaper excellence. Zach Hatakeyama won third-place awards for best infographic for his chart comparing bookstore and Amazon prices. He also received third-place honors for best inside page spread with his "Lord Roka" page design. Emma DiMaggio's image of kneeling football players took a third place for best news photo. Additionally, key publication staff members recently attended the College Media Association conference in New York. Ms. Stefanie Frith, adviser for The Union and Warrior Life, is also a journalism faculty member, along with Ms. Kate McLaughlin. Mr. Luis Sinco is the photo adviser and Mr. Jack Mulkey is the advertising manager.