The tournament was held at Cal State Fullerton and hosted competitors from Fullerton College, CSUF and UCI. The competitions were categorized by policy debate, informative speech, persuasive speech, improptu and oral interpretation.

The top competitors received a certificate with their name on it and their achievement. As for tradition the first place winners also received a sock monkey.

Fullerton College competitors for informative speech were Sumaie Mao taking first place, Olivia Kehoe in third place, Cailin Naclonales in fourth place and James Hwang in fifth place.

For the oral interpretation debate, the top competitors were Shelly Picado taking first place, Akayla Cadena was second place and Allyce Flores finished in third place but also took third place in the impromtu debate.

Arlene Albarran placed second for persuasive speech. “The Blumer is a way for me to get more practice at giving a persuasive speech and my ability to share knowledge,” said Albarran a communications major.

To round out the debate, Fullerton College’s Gitty Shah and Daniel Herrera Garcia took first place in the policy debate.

Debate consisted of four rounds and individual events had three with lunch break in the middle. Judges were either veteran speech and debaters or faculty.

CSUF provided light snacks and refreshments in between rounds for competitors and judges. Pizza was served at noon and gave everyone chance to refuel for the home stretch.

“Presenting wasn’t as difficult as I thought, the judges and competitors create a friendly environment to reduce speech anxiety,” said Fayth Hirth-Mendez, a music major at Fullerton College.

This tournament is designed for attracting newer students to speech and debate. Most participates are not on the speech and debate team, but are enrolled in communications 100 or 135 classes.

“The Blumer is a great way for novice speakers to get a taste of speech and debate,” said Jeffrey Samano, a communications professor at Fullerton College.

Collette Blumer, a professor at CSUF and Fullerton College has been the event organizer for past 15 years. Tournaments are usually named after someone who has moved on however CSUF decided to name the tournament after her when she was about to graduate with her master’s degree.

“I’m really proud of the people in my classes that want to improve on something that can be scary at times. Whether its four months or four years of experience they leave better prepared for jobs, relationships and will succeed more,” said Blumer.

Fullerton College continues to strive in speech and debate whether students are on the team or just enrolled in a communications class, and the Blumer is an excellent introduction to becoming a better speaker.