Speech and Debate Team Ready Themselves for State
ANGELYNE CHU
Staff Writer
This weekend, members of the Speech and Debate team will be attending the state competition at Bakersfield Junior College. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which Speech and Debate will be taking part in the event.
The team has advanced to state every year since 2005, when adviser Kevin Tong began coaching.
Seven students qualified this year: Nathan Cheng, Felix Huang, Philip Tam, Nancy Nguyen, Michelle Tham, Oscar Wong and Paulina Ale.
According to Tong, they have been preparing since the summer.
“It’s great to know where a mix of confidence, dedication, and effort can take you. It’s a chance to meet interesting people, that otherwise I would not get a chance to meet,” said junior and Debate Captain Phillip Tam.
In order to qualify, students must attend the two tournaments held at Cal State Long Beach and Schurr High School. Partners Cheng and Huang earned first in Policy Debate, Nguyen fifth in the same category, Tam sixth in Impromptu, while Ale placed third in Original Prose and Poetry and Wong fourth in national Extemporaneous Debate. Overall, Alhambra reached fourth in sweepstakes.
According to Cheng, the team loses many of the seniors who contribute to the group, but they are able to make up for it by training many novice members. The most drastic change would be previous captain Jedi Curva leaving because he was a good coach.
Furthermore, Cheng states that every year, Tong gradually becomes more experienced with coaching, and it really helps because he has been very active in helping the novices get better.
“Not only is Mr. Tong grasping the ropes better, but our various captains now have more experience and are more capable of teaching and leading the rest of the team to success,” said Huang.
Cheng advanced to state in Policy Debate, a subject that he is not acquainted with, which can be one of the difficulties in debate. Originally, Cheng was supposed to compete in Original Prose and Poetry. However, he placed seventh in the event, which was not a confirmed placement for state.
Fortunately, he had qualified for Policy Debate. This will be Cheng’s first time competing in Policy Debate.
“We’re not going to be stressed over it. This is our last year, and we just want to go and have fun. We already have the mindset that we’re going to go in there relaxed and confident,” said Cheng.
According to Nguyen, Captain of Impromptu, the state-qualified members got straight to work after finding out that they had qualified for state, which meant staying after school for approximately two to three hours longer.
“I think we all worked very hard to get where we are today, and the fact that we made it this far just shows the amount of hard work and dedication that we put in everyday to our own event. Even though [the team] is growing at such an immense rate right now, I know for a fact that the chemistry that we all have together will never fade away. Speech and Debate not only teaches you how to speak, but the amount of friends that you make is just unforgettable,” said Nguyen.