11600 Columbia College Drive · Sonora, California 95370

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NEWS RELEASE

-- For Immediate Release --

Date: March 17, 2008

Contact: Doug Lau, Director of Marketing & Public Relations

Columbia debaters defend state championship title

Columbia College successfully defended their state title at the 2008 California Community College Speech and Debate Championships held this past weekend in Concord. Members captured a gold medal in the team sweepstakes event for the second year in a row. This award is given to the team that accumulates the most success as a squad at the tournament.

After five days of competition, Columbia had seven of their eight entrants advance to the final “medal” rounds. In the end, the teams of Zachary Macbeth and Trevor Wittke, along with Caitlin Macbeth and Danielle Carmack topped the field of 64 teams and were each awarded gold medals in parliamentary team debate. Cody Cooper was awarded a silver medal in individual parliamentary debate after losing a close round to Modesto Junior College’s Jon Cottrell.

This past weekend also marked another milestone for the team as they earned their first awards in the individual public speaking events. Founding member Taureanna Shimp received the first gold medal in impromptu speaking. In this event, a speaker is given a topic and has two minutes to construct and deliver a five minute speech. Caitlin Macbeth and Danielle Carmack also advanced to the elimination rounds and added to Columbia’s overall score and successful title defense.

“These are exciting results as we continue to claim we have the top community college debate program in the state,” said Dr. Tim Elizondo, Columbia College forensics advisor. “The team is also looking forward to sending representatives to the 2008 national championships and defending our national title. In addition, the team will be unleashing a new class of debaters at the 2008 Spring Fling in April. The speech and debate team expresses their gratitude for the help and support we have received from community members and the college staff.”

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News Release No. 032-08

March 17, 2008

For Immediate Release