LOS ALTOS HILLS— Two members of the newly-formed Foothill College Forensics Team have been selected to compete in the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s 2001 National Championships. The tournament will take place April 20-22 at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

Students Oscar Aparicio and Edward Gunawan will compete with hundreds of other two-person teams from colleges and universities around the country. Foothill speech communication instructor and team coach Lauren Popell will serve as an honorary alumna judge, and student Christina Peirona will be a member of the tournament’s undergraduate judging panel.

Oscar Aparicio, a graduate of Mountain View High School, recently won 2nd place in the individual impromptu speaking competition at the 2001 Northern California Forensics Championships. He was also a finalist in the informative speech competition.

Edward Gunawan won 1st place, two years in a row, in a regional high school debate competition in Singapore. He is the business manager of Foothill’s campus newspaper, The Sentinel, and is a member of the college choir. He works as a Pass the Torch peer tutor and is fluent in four languages.

Christina Peirona, a graduate of Notre Dame High School, excels in opera and musical theater. She is a member of the Tri-Music Honors Society and is currently serving as a teaching assistant for Speech 1B: Argumentation, Persuasion and Debate.

Lauren Popell is a graduate of Gunn High School, Bates College and Stanford University. She and her college debate partner were ranked #4 in the United States based on cumulative performance. This is her first year on the Foothill College faculty.

Last Update April 18, 2001