The Speech and Debate team competed in the Golden Desert NIETOC Qualifier on November 15 and 16 at Foothill High School.

Informative Speaking competitor Alexander Khachoyan ’28,  advanced to the semifinals while Simar Jolly ’26, advanced to the finals won third overall, and
earned a full TOC bid. In Humorous Interp, Anna Kim ’26,  advanced to the finals round. In United States Extemporaneous Speaking, Bilal Qazi ’25, made it to the quarter finals. In Original Oratory, Paul Rulis ’28, Alaina Salsaa ’25, Abigail Watson ’26, and Maya Sanchez ’26 advanced to the quarterfinals.

There are over 75 members in speech and debate clubs across the United States. There are many reasons why members of  speech and debate teams want to participate in speech and debate. One reason is public speaking is exciting and a great skill. Paul Rulis ’28 stated,  “In middle school, speech and debate was a required class for us to take 7th and 8th grade and it was in these years that I really learned to love it.” Rulis added,  “My school didn’t have a team so I knew I wanted to join one in high school.”

Going to tournaments like Golden Desert NIETOC improves speaking skills. Some say that this makes them more well versed and better at memorization. Junior Simar Jolly ’26, said, “ I think it’s helped a lot. I am not really a naturally gifted speaker, so being in an extracurricular that gives you so much opportunity to practice speaking really has helped with that. I mean I still get nervous before my rounds but that’s not so much a fear of speaking as it is just normal competition nerves.”

When preparing a speech, participants have to find a topic that relates to them and is important to them. They have to pick something they can present passionately and without mistakes. It has to be a topic that they see going on around them and they want to change or inform someone about. Watson said,  “The way that I choose my topics are topics that resonate with me and I can’t present a speech with topics that don’t resonate with me.”