By Ryann Heinlen
The Speech and Debate team competed in the annual Northwest Career and Technical Academy Debate on Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14. The team brought home first place, making history as the first debate team to do so at Coronado.
“This is the first time Coronado has ever gotten first at a tournament in our 14 years of existence, and it just shows the hard work and dedication that the captains and everyone on the team puts in to finally have this group victory,” Felicia Kaulkman, senior, said.
Each tournament is split into different categories under the two broader divisions “speech” and “debate.” The debate category includes public-forum, policy, Lincoln-Douglas, and student congress. Each of these subcategories is further broken down into levels of experience: varsity, junior varsity, and novice.
A public-forum debate is where two team members debate current events, which change every month. Seniors Austin Smith and Joo-An Yu placed second in varsity while Nathan Hall and Joel Connell placed first in junior varsity. Also debating in public-forum, novice Hailey Knowles placed first in her event as well.
Policy is a debate in which participants must argue for or against a policy change by the United States government. Varsity policy members Louis Shulman and Maddie Hoss took first while Seth Muwrasky and Travis Smith won first for novice policy. Quarterfinalists Allison Staggs and Megan Rubino also competed for novice policy.
The Lincoln-Douglas debate is when students individually debate on moral issues which change daily. Novices Akhil Mohan and Claire Shamiya alongside junior varsity member Shelby Burdo completed the tournament as quarterfinalists. Semifinalist Kaulkman competed for varsity Lincoln-Douglas while Alexander Sigmon placed second in novice Lincoln-Douglas, and Kayla Vizcarra placed second for junior varsity.
Congress is a simulation of the United States Congress in which students can act as the Senate or the House of Representatives while debating bills. In novice congress, Kaden Call and Alex Shelton placed as finalists while Robbie Andrews placed first. Junior varsity members Samantha Ross and Ava Trompeter won first and second in their debates. Acting as a part of the Senate, senior Zil Joyce Dixon-Romero brought home first in varsity congress.
“I am so proud of every single person in the speech and debate class that came out to compete at the Northwest Career and Technical Academy Debate. They put everything they’ve been doing in class into effect and did exactly what they were supposed to and the results definitely showed that,” Mr. Miles, speech and debate teacher, said.
The team’s next tournament is Nov. 20 and 21 at Rancho High School. The Rancho Speech Invitational Tournament acts as a qualifier for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions and only includes speech events like dramatic interpretation, duo interpretation, and original oratory. Those who continue to the final rounds at the Rancho tournament have the chance to procure a “bid,” and with two bids, that individual is able to move onto the national tournament.
