Congratulations to Yorba Linda High School’s Speech and Debate team for competing at the 2019 Orange County Speech League State Qualifiers! On the weekend of March 2-3, members of YLHS’s Speech and Debate team who compete in the debate events of Parliament and Student Congress debated at Fairmont Prep High School near Anaheim, California.

Speech and Debate is a seventh period class taught by Ms. Dagampat (Staff) alongside coach Tristan Parker, alumni of Esperanza High School where he competed as well. Students may choose from a wide variety of events with different standards and expectations according to the student’s preference. Speech events include dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, prose-poetry reading, duo interpretation, original oratory, oratorical interpretation, or impromptu speaking. Students competing in speech events spend weeks preparing an eight to ten minute long speech which they then practice and tune to perfection. Evaluations are based on content, performance, and memorization.

Students interested in current news and delivering persuasive, unscripted arguments will look to the debate side of the class. Debate events include Lincoln-Douglas debate, Student Congress, Parliament, Public Forum, and Extemp. Lincoln-Douglas debate involves one student debating with another about a current topic; in Student Congress, students imitate a legislative debate regarding bills and resolutions affecting the country and the world.

In this particular tournament, Student Congress debated a total of five pieces of legislation, including: A Bill to Abolish Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, A Bill to Ban Online Weapon and Ammunition Sales, A Bill to Increase Funding to Veterans’ Affairs to Promote Mental Health, A Bill to Encourage Space Debris Removal, and A Resolution to Calm Current Tensions in Russia.

Congratulations to Parliamentary finalists Elijah Seo (10) and Soham Bhagat (10) and to Parliamentary state qualifiers Isaiah Seo (12), Wayne Chan (12), Ishaan Sakhrani (10), and Ethan Ngo (10). Congratulations to Congress finalists Matt Lee (12), Raiyan Kalam (10), and Wayne Chan (12). Congratulations to Congress state qualifiers Anna Zhang (10), Chris Mancini (9), Rishi Kheni (12), Rohita Thammineni (10), and Caitlyn Truong (11) for qualifying for state as a Presiding Officer.

The Orange County Speech League State Qualifiers for independent events, including speech events and extemp, will take place on Saturday, March 9 at Cal State Fullerton.

Those who competed well in this tournament will be advancing onto the state tournament. The 62nd Annual CHSSA (California High School Speech Association) State Championship will be held on May 3-5 at California State University Long Beach.

Anna Zhang (10), who competed in Student Congress, reflects, “I had a great time at the state qualifiers tournament. The bills for this tournament were interesting and made for good debate. I’m excited and nervous to compete in the state tournament in a few months.”

Congratulations for qualifying and good luck at the 2019 California State Tournament, YLHS!