Congratulations to Yorba Linda High School’s Speech and Debate team for competing in their first tournament at CSUF! Students of the Speech and Debate team competed in the invitational from October 13 to October 14, where several Mustang competitors won awards for their performances.

As a seventh period class taught by Ms. Dagampat (Staff) with the help of coach Tristan Parker, students in Speech and Debate choose among a variety of events of performing a speech and/or debating topics to compete in two invitationals, two league tournaments, and a state qualifier tournament every year.

Speech events include humorous interpretation, dramatic interpretation, thematic interpretation, prose-poetry reading, duo interpretation, original oratory, oratorical interpretation, original advocacy, or impromptu speaking. All require a speech about eight to ten minutes long with evaluations based on performance, memorization, and content.

Debate events include Lincoln-Douglas debate, where one student debates with another about a current topic, Student Congress, where students imitate Senators and Representatives arguing for or against legislations, and Parliamentary debate, where pairs of students debate a controversial current topic. Students may also choose to compete in extemporaneous speaking, where individual competitors debate about current events. Debate events are generally preferred by students who are up to date with international and national news, able to convincingly deliver eloquent arguments, and ready to defend their stance against opponents.

Sierra Lane (11), who competes in extemporaneous speaking, reflects, “I love the extemp event. A group of ten or so students are given a topic, which is usually political, and we have half an hour to research the topic and prepare for a seven minute speech. It can be stressful sometimes, but overall it really helps keep me up with current news and practice my public speaking skills.”

At the CSUF invitational, all competitors competed in three rounds before three different judges. Those who performed well competed in a finals round to determine the final rankings. Congratulations to Rishi Kheni (12) for winning first place in novice Congressional debate, Wayne Chan (12) for winning ninth place in open Congressional debate, and Chris Mancini (9) for being a finalist for novice Congressional debate. Congratulations to Shannon Adler (11) for being a finalist for novice impromptu speaking, Aino Hakkinen (12) for winning second place in open dramatic interpretation, Janet Han (11) for being a finalist for open original advocacy, and Lauren Schatzman (11) for being a finalist for open original oratory.

Congratulations to YLHS’s Speech and Debate team for their hard work at their first tournament at CSUF!