PHC's Forensics Program snags 5 championships in a weekend

The Patrick Henry College Moot Court and Civic Debate students swept the competition, bringing home five championships in one weekend—three in moot court and two in civic debate! Read on for more details of an exciting and successful weekend for PHC's Forensics Program. As one of the competitors put it, "The Lord has been so kind."

In the Social Justice Civic Debate, PHC teams won both the open championship and novice championship, plus first place in speaker awards. Over that same weekend, PHC teams earned three Moot Court regional championships at various tournaments.

All students competing gave strong performances, with many reaching the final rounds and earning top speaker awards. Below is the full list of their achievements.

Civic Debate: 2 championships

 Social Justice Civic Debate Fall Championship

Aiden Forbes, Isaac Quinones, and Will Strohmeyer won the Open Championship.

Camille Rowley and Cooper Cobbs made it to the semifinals.

Jack Spurling and Josiah Osborne won the Novice Championship.

Speaker awards (open): Camille Rowley (1^st), Cooper Cobbs (2^nd), and Aiden Forbes (4^th).
Speaker awards (novice division): Will Strohmeyer (1^st), Jack Spurling (3^rd), Isaac Quinones (4^th), Angelica Bailey (5^th), and Josiah Osborne (7^th).

Will Strohmeyer: "Overall, we are very honored to bring PHC its first Social Justice Debate championship alongside other PHC teams, who won first place in every award given at the tournament. We continue to pray for humility, which is sometimes a bigger challenge than the tournament itself, and continued motivation for competitions in future seasons."

Jack Spurling: "We were blessed to be able to compete for the college. We were blessed with brilliant coaches who gave us the means to succeed. None of us expected the results that we achieved. All glory to God for what has been achieved."

Moot Court: 3 regional championships

Moot Court regional in Orlando, Florida

Allie Satterfield and Wyatt Trull won the championship, earning a bid to the January Preliminary Round of the National Tournament (PRONT) hosted by Liberty University.

Abigail Spivey and Zeke Johnson advanced to the octafinals.

Orator awards: Zeke Johnson (4^th), Allie Satterfield (5^th),  and Abigail Spivey (7^th).

Allie Satterfield: "We are so grateful for the opportunity to represent the school in competition. It was a challenging tournament with lots of excellent competitors, so it was very exciting to bring home a win!"

Moot Court regional in Akron, Ohio

Benjamin Rutten and Evan Fairfax won the championship, earning a bid to the San Francisco PRONT

Ryan Olson and Zach Barnes were semifinalists, also earning a bid to the San Francisco PRONT

Orator awards: Zach Barnes (7^th) and Evan Fairfax (8^th)

Benjamin Rutten: "It was definitely the type of thing only the Lord could have orchestrated. There was a last-minute partner switch that left Evan and me without a partner. We were partnered within 72 hours and found out on the drive to Akron that we would be competing the next day. It was both of our first times traveling to a tournament for PHC, so it was an incredible blessing to get to compete at all, let alone to win the tournament undefeated."

Moot Court regional at Yale

Brayden Braun and Kayla Jennings won the championship, earning a bid to the Texas Tech PRONT. They only lost one ballot all weekend to PHC's semifinalist team.

Earlier in the semester, Brayden and Kayla also won PHC's intramural moot court tournament.

Ainsley Stellman and Caleb Helsing were semifinalists, also earning a bid to the Texas Tech PRONT.

Rebecca Phillips and Benjamin Arroyave made it to the quarterfinals.

Orator awards: Kayla Jennings (1^st), Rebecca Phillips (2^nd), Brayden Braun (5^th), Ainsley Stellman (6^th).

Brayden Braun: "Moot Court has shown me how much the PHC community is willing to give back. The varsity students have been willing to meet with Kayla and me when we have questions and scrimmage with us on Saturdays. The forensics environment here fosters humility instead of envy, which is something I have never seen before in an arena as competitive as this. I’ve been so blessed."

Kayla Jennings: "It’s been an honor to represent PHC and partner with Brayden. I came away from the tournament so appreciative of how much our coaches and PHC faculty love and sacrifice for us and so blessed to have an amazing partner. The Lord has been so kind."

Moot Court regional in Albany, NY

Mark Epstein and James Staub made it to the quarterfinals, earning a bid to either the San Francisco or the Liberty PRONT.

Also competing: Evelyn Sittner and Mackenzie Richards, Ian Donaldson and Timothy Strand; alternate: Reid Ritter

Special thank you to PHC's outstanding coaching staff—all PHC alumni—who devoted untold hours to teaching, encouraging, and mentoring these students!

Coaches who accompanied the teams were the following:

UCF: Peter Kamakawiwoole

Akron: Logan Spena

Yale: Cole Reynolds

Albany: Finneas Buck and Sarah Fox

Civic Debate: Tyler Dunning and Isaac Winnes

Wonderful job to all our competitors. Thank you for your hard work, enthusiasm, and passion for debate and advocacy!

 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.