Legitimately Loquacious: Speech and Debate Kicks Off the Year

Photo Credit: photo from Natasha Sosa

Speech and debaters clean up at the St. Francis Tournament

October 8, 2009

Natasha Sosa, Assistant Special Sections Editor  

Filed under News, Pres

 During the election season, it is nearly impossible to turn on the TV without hearing about a candidate’s upcoming speech or an impending presidential debate. These events are meant to showcase the candidates’ intelligence and eloquence, in order to garner votes from the public. However, these politicians are not the only ones who can deliver moving speeches or argue salient points. Members of Presentation’s Speech and Debate Team did just that on Sep. 24-26 at the Saint Francis Invitational Tournament in Mountain View.

Although only a small portion of the team could make this first tournament, Presentation girls still started the new speech and debate season off strong. Sophomore Michelle Morris advanced to the octofinal rounds of Lincoln-Douglas debate, and sophomore Sonam Jindal, senior Grace Armstrong and junior Emily Purvis all advanced to the quarterfinal rounds. Purvis was also honored as the fourth place speaker overall in debate.

Speech girls also represented our school well. Sara Cois, senior, was awarded third place in Original Advocacy, and Teresa Matthew, junior, won third place in Expository Speaking. Alisha Azevedo, senior, also won third place in Original Oratory, and Ritika Pai, freshman, was the second place finisher. Lastly, Natasha Sosa, junior, won first place in Oratorical Interpretation.

All these events may be unfamiliar to those who aren’t a member of the team. Lincoln-Douglas debate is one of the various types of debate students can participate in. It is a single-person event, and it consists of debating on a topic that changes every two months, using a good deal of research in order to back up arguments. Original Advocacy is a speech event, one that consists of a speech written by the performer that addresses an issue in society and proposes legislation in order to combat that issue. Original Oratory is similar, in that it also discusses an issue or topic of interest, but this event doesn’t require feasible legislation to be proposed. Topics are usually more abstract. Another strong event for Pres is Expository Speaking, which involves writing a creative, humorous, and pun-filled speech on an everyday topic that is punctuated by clever visuals. Oratorical Interpretation is a little different, in that the student does not write the piece, but instead performs a speech previously performed by a person of interest.

Perhaps some of the success Pres had at this tournament is due to the strong coaching staff working with the team this year. Joining head coach Mr. Case and speech coach Mrs. Heil are two new coaches. Mr. Mumper is the new debate coach, and Mrs. Bengtson is the new speech coach.

“Mr. Mumper has been really great; I like having him as a coach,” said Vivian Ascencio, junior. “When we have questions, we can go to him. He helps us figure out if our arguments are any good.”

“I think that it’s nice to have someone on campus like Mrs. Bengtson who’s always willing to help,” said Sara Cois, senior. “She’s a good resource and another set of ears, which can never hurt.”

This tournament, in addition to being a big success for Pres, also allowed students to get used to competing again and to learn how to improve their speeches for better performances in the future.

“One of the good things about a tournament so early is that it gave me a reason to get my speech memorized,” said Nicole Bruno, sophomore. “This first performance was okay, but I know that I definitely need to work on it. I learned that I need to make my characters more clear.”

The Presentation speech and debate team is already off to a good start, and if they manage to use this experience to build on their early success, it is likely that they will have a spectacular year.

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Tags: speech and debate