Thank you all for submitting bids for the 2020 Pat Kennedy Round Robin. Patricia Kennedy was a competitor for Pacific Forensics from 1962-1966 and was a force for women in debate at the time. When she began at Pacific, there were separate divisions for men and women; however, with the encouragement of Pacific’s Director of Forensics, Paul Winters, Pat competed with male teammates at the toughest national tournaments of the time. Along with her partner Doug Pipes, she took first place at Pi Kappa Delta nationals and they competed together at the 1965 NDT. She also competed in what I can imagine was one of the earliest “digitally distanced” debates when she and her partner Angela O’Rand competed against two male debaters from Virginia via telephone.

In her professional career, Pat had a passion for art, education, and philanthropy. She worked in the fashion industry for two decades before working in philanthropy and politics with organizations such as the Red Cross and the National Board of Governors. She worked to raise money for first responders and survivors of natural disasters.

We are pleased to honor her legacy—translating leadership as a woman debate into leadership as professional—with this annual Round Robin and accept the following teams in what will be a true round robin (each team will debate one another):

1. Chabot College Joel Brown & Toria Wilson (w/ Stephanie Eisenberg)
2. Diablo Valley College Tanya Prabhakar & Brenna Seiersen (w/Sasan Kasravi)
3. McKendree Mitch Deleel & Kyle Garrett (w/ Zach Schneider)
4. University of California, Los Angeles Nika Nikoubin & Rohit Srinivas (w/ Cody Gustafson)
5. University of Nevada, Reno Jordan Cosselman & Jade Whitbeck (w/ Grace Miller)
6. University of the Pacific Gustavo Garcia & Arshita Sandhiparthi (w/ Kelly Hutchison)

Alternate Team:

1. San Joaquin Delta College Tehreem Khan & Rudy Romero (w/ Banafshae Khan)

For this year’s Round Robin, we are featuring YOU as competitors. In the invite attached you will find information, scheduling, and we will be sending out more updates as we prepare for next week.

Please be sure to accept a forthcoming invite on Speechwire.com for the Round Robin and also please be sure to submit jacket sizes for your competitors and judges along with TWO topics that your competitors wish to debate.