Carson High School (CHS) Speech and Debate wrapped up its third league tournament at Reed High School this past weekend with students advancing into finals in a wide range of speech and debate events. The tournament hosted 16 schools and 184 individual competitors.
Friday, the tournament focused on speech events. Ellie Demet and Kayden Kemp placed fifth and fourth respectively in Humorous Interpretation. Ellie performed Peabody and Sherman and Kayden’s piece was titled Spider Man at Hero Con. In Senior Humorous Interpretation, Addison Hopkins claimed first place with his cutting of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Carson High also claimed half of the final round rank in Original Oratory. In this event, students gave an inspirational speech on a problem in society and presented ways to solve it. Chelsea Empeno finished sixth with her piece on procrastination. Vivi Castro placed fifth addressing the issue of mental health among US military veterans. Nasia Perkins finished in second, speaking on the impact of negative emotions and the power of saying ‘Hello.’
Carson also continued its dominance of the event Program Oral Interpretation. Blending poetry, prose, literature, drama and news articles together, Makala Heyder placed second in novice, with Summer McGill and Emily Tran taking third and first in the senior division. Makala examined the pressures of being the oldest child, Summer brought attention to the struggles of supporting family members with dementia and Emily focused on discrimination against Asian Americans.
Additionally, Kyle Allen finished second overall in senior Foreign Extemporaneous. He spoke on topics including terrorism in Uganda and gender equality in Chechnya.
Saturday’s debate events also saw a wide range of success. The majority of Carson competitors placed in the top ten in speaking points for their events. For each preliminary round, judges assigned speaking points for style, questioning and analysis. All six Carson competitors in Policy debate placed in the top 10. Max Gold finished tenth, Kaden Sa ninth, Nasia Perkins seventh, Jazzy Avila fifth, Summer McGill third and Vivi Mellow claimed first.
Alexis Ropp claimed third in novice Lincoln Douglas debate. In novice Public Forum debate, Thomas Lance finished ninth, Makala Heyder third and Emily Tran took first. Senior Public Forum debate saw Kyle Allen finish tenth and partner Vivi Castro took third. Summer McGill and Nasia Perkins also finished second overall in Policy debate with the topic: The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security and/or providing a basic income.
Makala Heyder and Emily Tran took first place in novice Public Forum debate with the topic: The United States federal government should forgive all federal student loan debt. Makala and Emily had a perfect tournament winning every judge ballot in their competition. Makala, Emily, Summer and Nasia each took three top 3 spots this weekend. Emily Tran earned the coveted Iron Fist team award and placed first in three different categories at one tournament.
The team is beginning to prepare for their home tournament scheduled for January 19 and 20. They are looking for 100 volunteers to help serve as judges at the tournament. No experience is necessary. Judging is both informative and fun, and volunteers will be well fed. Anyone interested may contact Head Coach Patrick Mobley at [email protected].