The Moraine Valley speech team has won again.
In March, the team competed in the Pi Rho Phi Region IV tournament, going up against other community college teams from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. The team will compete later this month in the National Pi Rho Phi Tournament.
MVCC student Tyler Orel earned a special award, the Don Haggarty Award.
“This award is voted on by all the competitors and is given to the student who best embodies the elements of Speech and Debate. It is a true honor when your peers recognize you,” stated head coach John Nash in an e-mail shared with select MVCC staff last month.
Because COVID-19 restrictions resulted in a ban on most travel for MVCC clubs, organizations and teams, the speech team has competed virtually, adding a whole new skill set to their resumes as they learned how to set up sound, lights, and video “recording studios” in their homes. The restrictions have allowed the team to compete without the expenses related to travel and the health risk of potential exposure to the virus.
The Community Colleges of Illinois all banded together to make sure their respective students weren’t left out creating the Regional Affiliated Forensics League (RAFL) and made competitions possible this year.
Nash is the RAFL director, Kacy Ablen from College of DuPage is the Debate Coordinator, Jeff Pryzbylo from Harper College is in charge of Judges, and Tim Anderson from Elgin Community College is the Region Governor. The four schedule, run and administer the tournaments. Nash stated, “I feel that if students can feel a connection to campus or an activity on campus, they are more likely to stay in school and finish their education. While many activities around campus were halted, we got to continue to help our students learn and grow.” Most of the meets have been held virtually on a platform called 8 X 8, like a free version of Zoom.
Most of the coaching for the team has also been online. In a typical year, the coaches would meet with students on campus between 8 a.m and 5 p.m., but this year some with virtual coaching, there have been weekend and evening sessions with students. “Being online does make it much harder to explain and demonstrate elements of coaching. However, we have been allowed to have socially distant work days on campus and that has helped,” Nash added.
“I think it shows me as a coach just how adaptable, dedicated, and talented our Moraine Valley students are,” Nash said in November. “I feel truly blessed to be one of the coaches of this group.” He thanked the other coaches, Amanda Pettigrew and Krista Appelquist. as well.
This most recent win marks the fourth gold medal for the team this season out of six virtual competitions. The team ranked second overall for its first meet in October, and for its appearance at University of Utah’s Great Salt Lake Tournament in January.
Participating in the Utah tournament were California State University-Long Beach, Claremont College, Humboldt State University, Idaho State University, Lafayette College, Mt San Antonio College, North Central College, Northwest College, Oregon State University, The College of Idaho, The University of Texas at El Paso, US Air Force Academy, University of California – San Diego, University of California – Santa Barbara, University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of South Carolina, University of Nevada, University of Utah, University of Wyoming, University of the Cumberlands and Vanderbilt University.
“This list of competition is as impressive as it is scary,” Nash said. “MVCC did not win, but we did take second place in Individual Events! I think it just goes to show what an amazing group of students we have at Moraine.”
If you’d like to see some of the performances of this year’s members, they are offering a showcase on Friday, April 2 at 7 p.m. Follow the link here for a virtual showcase.
Below is a recap of the awards Moraine has won this season.
Oct. 23-24 – Silver Medal – Region IV Affiliated Forensics League (RAFL)
Tri-state area
Nicole Dela Rosa: first place in Speaking to Entertain and third place in Communication Analysis
Noor Awaidah: second place in Communication Analysis
Shelby Woody: first place in Duo Interpretation and third place in Dramatic Interpretation
Tyler Orel: second place in Prose Interpretation
Alexis Lyons: third place in Program of Oral Interpretation
Aidan McGuire: third place in Poetry Interpretation
Trystan Julian: first place in Duo Interpretation
Nov 13-14 Gold Medal – RAFL competition
Tri-state area
Nicole Dela Rosa: first place in Speaking to Entertain
Noor Awaidah: first place in Communication Analysis and second place in Prose Interpretation.
Shelby Woody: first place in Duo Interpretation and second place in Dramatic Interpretation
Tyler Orel: first place in Duo Interpretation and third place in Prose Interpretation
Alexis Lyons: third place in Program of Oral Interpretation
Aidan McGuire: third place in Poetry Interpretation and third place in Persuasive Speaking
Dec. 11-12 Gold Medal – RAFL competition
Tri-state area
Nicole Dela Rosa: first place in Speaking to Entertain
Noor Awaidah: second place in Communication Analysis and third place in Prose Interpretation.
Shelby Woody: first place in Duo Interpretation, first place in Communication Analysis and first place in Dramatic Interpretation
Tyler Orel: first place in Duo Interpretation, first place in Program of Oral Interpretation and third place in Speaking to Entertain
Alexis Lyons: second place in Impromptu Speaking and third place in Program of Oral Interpretation
Aidan McGuire: third place in Poetry Interpretation and first place in Persuasive Speaking
Jan 8 – 9 Great Salt Lake Speech and Debate Invitational Tournament
Moraine Valley College – Second Place Overall
Noor Awaidah: first place in Communication Analysis, fifth place in Prose Interpretation and second place in Dramatic Interpretation.
Shelby Woody: third place in Duo Interpretation, first place in Speaking to Entertain, second place in Communication Analysis and first place in Dramatic Interpretation.
Tyler Orel: second place in Program of Oral Interpretation, third place in Duo Interpretation and fifth place in Speaking to Entertain.
Alexis Lyons: sixth place in Program of Oral Interpretation
Aidan McGuire: second place in Poetry Interpretation, third place in Prose Interpretation and fifth place in Persuasive Speaking
Trystan Julian: fourth place in Speaking to Entertain.
Feb 12-13 Gold medal – RAFL #6
Awards went to the following people and events:
Noor Awaidah: first place in Dramatic Interpretation, second place in Communication Analysis and first place in Prose Interpretation.
Shelby Woody: first place in Duo Interpretation, first place in Communication Analysis second place in Speaking to Entertain and third place in Dramatic Interpretation.
Tyler Orel: first place in Duo Interpretation, first place in Program of Oral Interpretation, third place in Communication Analysis and third place in Speaking to Entertain.
Trystan Julian: first place in Speaking to Entertain.
Aidan McGuire: second place in Informative Speaking and second place in Persuasive Speaking
March 12-13 Gold – Pi Rho Phi Region IV Tournament
Regional Awards:
Co-Captain, Tyler Orel (Bridgeview): won two Silver Medals, one Bronze medal and the Don Haggarty Award.
Co-Captain, Shelby Woody (Homer Glen): won two Silver medals and two Bronze medals.
Noor Awaidah (Oak Lawn): won two Gold Medals.
Aiden McGuire (Mokena): won two Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal.
Alexis Lyons (Orland Park): won one Bronze Medal.
Trystan Julian (Crete): competed but did not advance into the medal rounds.
