The Bakersfield College forensic team took on a national tournament in Oregon and went home with the gold, according to speech professor Mike Korcok.
During spring break, the Phi Rho Pi Speech Honor Society held its national tournament for 10 days in Portland, Ore.
Four students from BC competed in two competitions, the team policy debate, and an individual Lincoln-Douglas debate.
About 450 students from 72 community colleges attended the competition, he said.
Korcok and Bob Lechtreck, a part-time coach, was able to accompany Loriann Casillas, Ken Dandy, David Collins and Jarrod Massey to the competition.
The BC teamwon first place for an overall performance in sweepstakes and overall in debate events.
Dandy and Casillas won gold medals in both events, while Collins and Massey won gold medals for the Lincoln-Douglas debate and silver medals for the team policy event.
“It was pretty exciting winning both events. It was definitely an experience,” said Dandy.
BC competed against many larger schools, said Korcok.
“I enjoyed it, the competition was excellent,” he said.
The forensics team has been around for more than 70 years.
Earlier this year, BC was awarded the McClintock Award for the best overall community college debate team of 2002-03 at the CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) National Tournament at Arizona State University.
BC was recognized for competitive success against other community colleges and universities as well.
The team also won the Select Trophy. It is an award for the top overall performance from all college programs with limited budgets.
The team also received second place, beating schools within the western region, including all CEDA schools in California, such as San Francisco State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Stanford.