Our Falcons did amazing at the first speech and debate tournament of the year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School! It was great to be back in person and feel that energy and excitement again! Students participated in a variety of events including congressional debate, impromptu speaking, public forum, and original oratory. Out of our 29 competitors, 15 earned a medal!

Congressional debate (congress for short) is a replication of how Congress works, and competitors present bills and question other bills in a round. 

“I got 2nd out of 19 competitors. I know I could’ve done better, but it was my first competition,” Jacey Stoll explains. “I chose congress because it’s set up like the government, and it’s a good way to learn through interacting versus watching.”

Many students placed in impromptu as well, a popular event about on the spot speaking. In impromptu, participants are given a quote and 7 minutes to plan and present a speech. Participants are able to choose how they want to split their given time. 

“Impromptu seems difficult at first, but once you’re in the moment, you realize what you need to say,” says Avani Upadhyay. “Impromptu spoke to me because during the moment decisions are my specialty.”

Unlike impromptu, original oratory is an event where speakers write and present a speech on any topic they choose. The speech is written and memorized before the tournament.

“I chose to write my speech on climate change,” John Xu states. “It’s a problem a lot of people don’t understand, and I want to bring awareness.”

On the other hand, some students chose to participate in a partner event called public forum debate. In this event, two teams compete against each other on an interesting topic that changes every 1-2 months. 

“I took a camp in December after 6th grade, and I was put into PF. I liked the event and decided to continue,” Shriya Narasimhan states. “One of the advantages is learning how to work as a team. Impromptu and normal speaking skills are gained too.”

The next tournament is on October 23rd. Good luck to all our competitors!

If you see the following students this week, please congratulate them:

Congressional Debate – Elizabeth Xiao, Jacey Stoll, Olivia Troche

Extemporaneous Speaking – Hemvardhan Bollamereddy

Impromptu Speaking – Avani Upadhyay, Shreya Anand, Jordan Cohen, Arianna Paz Hernandez, Isabel Duffy, Rishitha Marri, Nikash Chandra, Mahitha Gundre

Original Oratory – John Xu

Public Forum Debate – Nethra Chittiprol and Shriya Narasimhan

Thanks to Mr. Slowik for volunteering his time to judge – we appreciate you helping out!!