Lower Columbia College - Fighting Smelt Forensics, 1600 Maple Street, Longview, WA (2026)

Our students compete regionally and nationally, and rank among the top community college programs in the country. For over 50 years, Lower Columbia College has had strong and successful Speech and Debate team. We take pride in our legacy and the generations of leaders who have come from our program. LCC Speech and Debate competes in the Northwest Forensics Conference (representing Washington, Oreg

on, Idaho, Montana, northern Utah, and Alaska), and is a Phi Rho Pi program (representing top community colleges nationwide)

Our team participates in regional and national tournaments where student competitors go head to head with speakers and debaters from other schools. Our team members participate in a variety of activities, and there is a competition event for every interest:

Debate – we focus on IPDA, a one-on-one style of public debate
Limited Prep – including Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking
Interpretation – including Prose, Drama, and Poetry interpretation
Public Address – including Informative and Persuasive Speaking

Competitors learn and practice a variety of critical thinking, analytical, and public speaking skills. We strive to provide a rigorous intellectual experience for students that will be meaningful regardless of past experiences or future aspirations. LCC is an AA/EEO employer - lowercolumbia.edu/aa-eeo • LCC Clery Annual Security and Fire Safety Report available at lowercolumbia.edu/CleryASFR

06/19/2026

Congratulations to our ‘25-‘26 Fighting Smelt graduates!

The academic year at LCC is (finally) in the books. It’s a bittersweet moment as we celebrate Mara, Covenant, Vickey, Ethan, Kamren, and Rayelynn moving on to bigger adventures.

Several Smelt walked at last night’s commencement ceremony, and many more came to support their peers. Mara gave an incredible speech as the featured student speaker. We honored Ameera with a posthumous degree.

We’re so proud of all that this special group has accomplished together. They have shown resilience and supported each other through the highest highs and the lowest lows.

But we also know that it’s time for what’s next - new challenges, new risks, new growth.

So it’s time to say goodbye… for now. Thank you for supporting us on our journey. Until next time 🐟

05/05/2026

Come celebrate the end of an amazing season with our team!

Members of the Fighting Smelt nationals squad will be performing some of our favorite and most successful entries at a FREE showcase event. We’re still finalizing some details, but the plan is to perform 10+ speeches and multiple debates across eight different categories of competition.

You’re welcome to come and go as your schedule allows… so feel free to arrive late or leave early!

Any questions about the event? Let us know and we’ll do our best to fill in the gaps! 🐟

04/12/2026

Over the last nine days, the Fighting Smelt have had a presence at three separate national tournaments. We’re thrilled to share these INCREDIBLY exciting results from the national stage:

Our squad won TWO NATIONAL TITLES! At the AFA National Speech Tournament, our squad tied with our friends from Tyler Junior College for first place among community colleges (and third place in limited entry sweeps). And at IPDA Nationals, LCC was named the community college season-long champion (as well as 15th place overall).

Also at IPDA Nationals, Mara Slabu was honored as the 10th best open-level IPDA debater in the nation (out of over 650 students). Meanwhile, at Phi Rho Pi nationals, Mara won GOLD in extemporaneous speaking. It was a deserved national title at the conclusion of a remarkable individual season.

But Mara wasn’t the only Smelt making moves at Phi Rho Pi – we had SEVEN different students earn a total of ten medals across seven distinct categories in all genres of competition.

Cumulatively, LCC won bronze awards in speech, in debate, and in overall team sweepstakes in the largest (Wyman) competitive division at the tournament.

A few other Phi Rho Pi accomplishments that we want to highlight include:

*Seamus Mahoney was awarded the Fish-Nelson award for NFA-LD after being selected by their peers as the competitor who represents the finest qualities of forensics.

*Mercedes Musser was named 2nd speaker in a field of 132 IPDA debaters (she also won bronze in both IPDA and impromptu)

*Covenant Adegbami broke in three events, including prose and POI. She has cemented herself as one of the very finest interpreters in LCC forensics history

*Divaa Nchau and Aiden Tran won silver in parliamentary debate, while Covenant Adegbami and Jared Doherty won bronze. These are LCC’s first parli breaks in over a decade.

*Kamren Mattison won silver in informative speaking, making him LCC’s first platform speech finalist since 2006

And what’s not captured in these results… is just how kind, caring, and supportive this SPECIAL team has been through a grueling week. There isn’t a sweepstakes award for love, but if there was we think this team would be competitive at the highest level.

04/10/2026

Day three of Phi Rho Pi nationals is in the books… and the Fighting Smelt are COOKING.

The first round of breaks dropped this afternoon, and we’re so excited about our NINE total breaks to semifinals:
*Divaa/Aiden in Parliamentary Debate
*Covenant/Jared in Parliamentary Debate
*Mara in IPDA Debate
*Mercedes in IPDA Debate
*Kamren in Informative Speaking
*Covenant in Program Oral Interpretation
*Mercedes in Impromptu Speaking
*Mara in Extemporaneous Speaking
*Covenant in Prose Interpretation

We don’t have comprehensive records… but we think this already represents one of the best results in our program’s history at Phi Rho Pi. It’s especially exciting to have success across multiple formats of debate, limited prep, platform, and interpretation. We’re so excited to have seven DIFFERENT Smelt representing our squad in elimination rounds.

We still have two huge days of competition ahead of us… but we’re so pleased with where we stand at this stage in the tournament. We’ll do our very best to keep you posted as the tournament progresses 🐟

04/07/2026

The Fighting Smelt are feeling good, looking GREAT, and ready to take on Phi Rho Pi Nationals!

Tonight’s opening banquet (which, yes, was Hunger Games themed) kicked off this year’s tournament, which will feature 53 of the top community and technical college speech and debate programs from across the country.

Over the next five days, our twelve students will perform a MINIMUM of 84 speeches and 65 debates across twelve different competitive formats (and that’s after our AFA squad already delivered 45 speeches on Saturday and Sunday).

This tournament is always a challenging test of focus, stamina, and balance. We need to find time for rest and homework, while also staying locked in at an elite level of competition.

This team is so special, and we hope that this tournament will provide a climactic end to what has already been an incredible season. We’ll do our best to keep you posted throughout the week 🐟

Address

1600 Maple Street
Longview, WA
98632

Website

https://lowercolumbia.edu/student-life/clubs/speech-debate/index.php

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Lower Columbia College - Fighting Smelt Forensics