COD's forensics team wins 5 medals at national tournament

The College of DuPage Forensics Team received five individual medals and tied for fifth place overall, earning a bronze medal, at the recent Phi Rho Pi National Forensics Tournament.

Medal winners are Matt Schuhriemen (Naperville), gold in Impromptu Speaking and gold in Extemporaneous Speaking; Heidi Rogalla (Hinsdale), silver in Communication Analysis and bronze in Informative Speaking; and Sam Mercaldo (West Chicago), bronze in Impromptu Speaking.

“Winning two gold medals was the culmination of an entire year of hard work,” Schuhriemen said. “For all of us, we spent hours and hours preparing, so it was fantastic to see that pay off.”

Other Forensics Team members who competed at nationals are Rachel Bottens (Lisle), Micah Colbert (Naperville), Stephen Dillenburg (Lemont), Kyla Donato (Naperville), Billy Gee (Bolingbrook) and Joel Thalla (Aurora).

The team tied for fifth place out of 59 teams competing and earned a bronze medal. In addition, Chris Miller, associate professor of Speech at COD and assistant director of Forensics, received the Phi Rho Pi Service Award for his leadership of the Awards Committee and the committee's work over the past eight years to increase student participation in voting for special awards at the national tournament.

“I was truly shocked to receive this award,” Miller said. “I have been the chair of the Awards committee at Phi Rho Pi for the past eight years. One of the responsibilities of that committee is to select those who receive the annual Service Award. When my friend Jeff Przybylo went up to the microphone, he looked at me and gave me this very smug look, and it was at that point that I realized, ‘They are giving me the Service Award.' It's not very often that I've been surprised in my life, but this was truly one of those times. And I couldn't be more proud and honored to have been presented with this award.”

Miller worked as a team coach along with Lauren Morgan, professor of Speech at COD and director of Forensics; Chase Budziak, part-time Speech faculty at COD; and Andy Dameron, COD alumnus.

"Winning the bronze medal is especially sweet,” Morgan said. “We make the analogy that our season is like running a marathon – you have to train and pace yourself so you can make it to the final push at the end. We were really fortunate this year to have 10 to 12 alumni help prepare the team during the last three weeks before nationals. This helped the team come together at the most crucial time of the season, which contributed to their success. Plus, Sam, Heidi and Matt worked so hard. Their success is well-deserved."

For more information on the Forensics Team, call Morgan at (630) 942-2007, e-mail morgan@cod.edu, or Miller at (630) 942-2823, e-mail millerc@cod.edu.