David DePino earns Outstanding Student in Forensics Award

David DePino, son of Davida and Mark DePino, of Wheaton, Ill., was awarded the Outstanding Student in Forensics Award during Honors Day in May at North Central College.

A graduating senior, David has a double major in speech communication and history at North Central College. He is a graduate of Wheaton North High School.

North Central’s director of forensics and professor of speech communication called David the “best forensics student” in the College’s 100-year program. All total, David has won some 200 individual awards in many categories, 25 at national championships, during his time at North Central.

His senior year alone, he qualified to compete in final contests at state and national levels. At the 2013 Illinois Intercollegiate Forensic Association State Tournament, David received third place in Individual Sweepstakes or third place overall in the state. He won second place in Extemporaneous Speaking, second place in Impromptu Speaking, third place in Parliamentary Debate, and fourth in Oratory.

He also competed and placed in two national tournaments as a senior. At the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET), David was the 17th-ranked forensics student in the entire nation out of 200 students who qualified in five or more events during the season. He was semi-finalist in three events—Persuasive Speaking, Impromptu Speaking and Extemporaneous Speaking—and all three were in the top 10 in the country. David also finished in the top 24 in Informative Speaking. His efforts helped lead North Central’s team to its best performance in history at the AFA-NIET.

At the National Forensics Association (NFA) National Championship Tournament, David finished in the quarter-finals in Impromptu Speaking, quarter-finals in Informative Speaking, semi-finals in Extemporaneous Speaking and semi-finals in Rhetorical Criticism. In each of his preliminary rounds, he competed against 130-200 students, with just 24 advancing to quarter-finals and 12 to semi-finals.

David was the 2012 recipient of the Outstanding Student in Forensics Award, and his name has regularly appeared on the Dean’s List. He also helped the West Chicago High School Speech Team on the side as part of his service to the forensics community.