Arcadia High School’s Speech and Debate Team’s Historic State Qualifying Tournament
Members of Arcadia High’s Speech and Debate Team at a Novice competition in Feb. 2022
(Photo courtesy of AUSD Digital Communications Intern Avani Athavale)
Achieving 20 qualifications for the upcoming California State Championship, Arcadia High’s Speech and Debate Team accomplished a feat that hasn’t been made in decades. The recent Southern California Debate League’s (SCDL) State Qualifying Tournament for Speech and Lincoln Douglas/Policy Debate saw record-breaking performances for Arcadia High, and the event itself was also no small feat.
Arcadia High’s qualification highlights include four qualifications in Oratorical Interpretation and Impromptu; three qualifications in Original Prose and Poetry; and First and Third places in Informative Speaking, to name only a few categories Arcadia High students advanced in.
Despite the feel-good final placements, the competition was far from a breeze from a logistics perspective, according to Arcadia High Speech and Debate Coach Ashley Novak. Those who ran the tournament were constantly tracking down judges and minimizing delays, explained Novak.
To do their part to help things flow as smoothly as possible, students showed up to rounds with timers ready, speeches memorized, and they offered to help any judges with any technology troubles.
After moving past preliminary rounds, Arcadia High competitor Ariana Hernandez recalls her emotion before the tournament. Hernandez shared that she was originally motivated to use her participation in this event as a learning experience and nothing more.
“I was shocked,” reflected Hernandez, who was the only person to qualify in debate that weekend. “I remember hearing Ms. Novak say my name [during awards] and thinking she got the wrong girl.”
Hernandez is part of the novice, or new speech and debate students, group of participants who collectively landed nine event qualifications despite being new to competing.
Arcadia High’s Speech and Debate Team hosts Speech Showcase, “Speech Follies”
Video by AUSD Digital Communications Intern Ashley Chen
In many ways, however, even varsity team members felt like they were entering a whole new world with a return to competing in person. Due to last year’s pandemic-placed distance learning environment, multiple members reflected that they lost their connection to speech. Entry sizes in virtual competitions dwindled. Novak discovered that online environments could not fully illustrate the nuanced ways students expressed themselves. Thus, the SCDL community worked meticulously to figure out a way for this State Qualifying competition to be held safely in person.
“The process involved creating a policy for everyone to feel safe,” Novak said, explaining that full vaccinations or a negative COVID-19 test were required along with adherence to the mask mandate that was in place at the time, waivers, and health checks. The over 300 entries for the tournament are a testament to the comfort these careful preparations generated.
For those who did not compete, numerous woke up bright and early to spectate and learn through observing from various rounds of competition. The awards ceremony saw what was visibly an exhausting day for many wrapped up with reinvigoration through cheering, clapping, and standing ovations for each first-place performance. The day concluded with Arcadia High’s Speech and Debate team winning second place in the “Sweepstakes for a Large School” category.
Arcadia High School’s Speech and Debate Team excitedly awaits awards.
(Photo courtesy of Arcadia Speech and Debate Team Historian Becky Chen)
“It was surreal”, Novak said when reflecting on an entire year of hard work and immense effort by coaches and students alike reaching its penultimate point.
“It’s been such a journey,” Rebecca Tao, an Arcadia High varsity Speech and Debate member who qualified in both Impromptu and Original Oratory, said.
“The program really developed my self-confidence and made me more eloquent. I got better at class presentations in other classes and started enjoying putting myself out there.”
Arcadia High School’s Speech and Debate will now prepare for the California State Championship, which will take place on Apr. 28.
To find additional information and specific speech category placements, visit the official website for tournament results. For more information about Arcadia High School’s Speech and Debate program, visit ahs.ausd.net.