Speech and Debate Glitter and Gold

This past weekend our speech and debate team tackled the competition at the University Of The Pacific Invitational and their performances were undeniably unbelievable! Our students competed against over 1000 students from across the state and we are so incredibly proud of their efforts and their outcomes. 

Please give your  CONGRATULATIONS to the following:

Aashril Shazar for 2ND PLACE VARSITY IMPROMPTU

Aashril Shazar & Dhruva Kolikineni 2ND PLACE VARSITY PARLI

Vishnu Matta 3RD PLACE VARSITY HUMOROUS INTERP

Immanuel Victor 3RD PLACE VARSITY LINCOLN DOUGLAS

Subhan Baig 3RD PLACE NOVICE LD Debate

Please be sure to congratulate them on their victories!

As was the case last time, we wanted to highlight the tinsel, but we also wanted to focus the spotlight on one of our own team members who actually lost in a semi-final competition. 

After a brutal semi-final round loss, against a close friend and fierce competitor from Enochs, hearts were hurting and words could have too ... but the choice made by Immanuel Victor showed immense integrity. Rather than sulking and lamenting, although he took a moment to mourn his loss, he chose to turn around the attitude and support his friend in the finals. We call it "prepping out a competitor." In short, he sat down to strategize with the guy who just beat him with how he could win the whole tournament. This is incredibly generous because a full-ride scholarship was attached to that win.

As it turns out, Nick, the other competitor, did, in fact, end up winning!!

However, the "wins" don't stop there.  Like an unexpected encore, Nick returned the favor to Immanuel (without him knowing) when he went to the tournament director, the coach of UOP, and suggested that his friend Immanuel be asked to join the team as well; offering to share his newly acquired financial help, as they were "both worth it!"