Pleasant Hill, Calif. — The Diablo Valley College (DVC) Speech and Debate team delivered another stellar performance at the Phi Rho Pi National Championship Tournament in Norfolk, Virginia, bringing home an impressive 22 individual awards. The Vikings earned five gold medals, four silver medals, and 13 bronze medals, including a historic first-ever national title in Reader’s Theater, a multi-person ensemble performance.
DVC’s excellence was on full display across a variety of speech and debate events, earning the team silver overall in both speech and debate, and placing third nationally among all colleges competing in this premier championship for community college students.
Fourteen DVC students participated in multiple events, including extemporaneous speaking, poetry, debate, and more.
“This tournament is about so much more than winning,” said DVC Speech and Debate coach Robert Hawkins. “It’s about expressing yourself and challenging yourself in an intense environment. Our students have worked so hard for this, practicing nights and weekends, and traveling to other tournaments. It has been a joy to support their development and witness their success.”
“I am immensely thankful for the opportunity to be able to speak about topics that matter to me and be able offer my perspective on things, and even more so for the opportunity to be surrounded by people from diverse backgrounds for a whole week (at this tournament),” said Nour Barakat, gold medalist for Open Prose.
“Phi Rho Pi Nationals was a wonderful way to end the season,” said Emma Chigbu, gold medalist for Open Duo Interpretation. “Nothing made my happier than watching as my teammates gave their final arguments and preformed their pieces for one last time this season.”
See the Showcase
These nationally recognized performances will be shared live at DVC’s annual Speech Night Showcase on April 24 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) Auditorium.
Get your tickets now, and come celebrate the voices that are making Diablo Valley College proud:
https://tickets.dvc.edu/event/speech-night-04-24-2025-1900/tickets/seg?e=075
Congratulations to all our talented competitors and dedicated coaches for their hard work and passion!
National Champions – Gold Medalists:
- Azlan Brown – Open Poetry
- Emma Chigbu & Kylie Bryan – Open Duo Interpretation
- Emma Chigbu, Kylie Bryan & Nour Barakat – Reader’s Theater
- Nour Barakat – Open Prose
- Garret Slody – Open IPDA Debate
Silver Medalists:
- Emma Chigbu – Open Program Oral Interpretation (POI)
- Nour Barakat (she/her) – Open Poetry
- Tristan Espana – Open Extemporaneous Speaking
- Christina Sun – Open IPDA Debate
- Christina Sun – Open NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Bronze Medalists:
- Azlan Brown – Open Dramatic Interpretation
- Emma Chigbu – Open Impromptu
- Kenza Aya Dje – Open Poetry
- Kenza Aya Dje – Open Dramatic Interpretation
- Naila Surahmat – Open Poetry
- Naila Surahmat & Nour Barakat – Open Duo Interpretation
- Naila Surahmat – Open POI
- Daniel Mendelson – Open Prose
- Tristan Espana & Samantha Perez – Open Parliamentary Debate
- Christina Sun & Garret Slody – Open Parliamentary Debate
- Hannah Schroers – Open IPDA Debate
- Hannah Schroers – Open NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate