(Left to right) Aanya Devchoudhury (2-1), Soren Dela Pena (3-0), Seven Tolentino (2-1), Cindy Ngo (2-1), Gabriel Snyder (3-0), and Tristan Escalante (2-1) at Oaks Christian Novice Debate

By Hilda Rico Valdez

June Peers places as a Finalist/2nd place overall at Jack Howe Invitational

The Debate Team’s season is off to an impressive start. On October 21, the novices successfully competed at Oaks Christian High School. The tournament was on the same day as the Homecoming dance, showing the team’s dedication and drive.

Junior Soren Dela Pena displayed an impressive performance by maintaining an undefeated record, winning all three rounds, and earning the title of top speaker. Senior Gabriel Snyder was also undefeated through three rounds of competition. Winning with a 2-1 record were senior Cindy Ngo, juniors Kelly Chen, Tristan Escalante, and Seven Tolentino, and sophomore Aanya Devchoudhury.

The team’s first competition was the Chuck Ballingall Memorial Invitational at Damien High School on September 23-24. This tournament mainly focused on the novices, students in their first year competing for the debate team. Dela Pena won Octofinalist, junior Nathan Lee won 11th best speaker, Devchoudhury won 14th best speaker, and senior Eli Guillen won 15th best speaker.

“The weeks before, we did lots of practice debates where the JV and Varsity teams would judge it and tell us ways on how to improve. It was really helpful,” Dela Pena said.

Senior and debate captain Aayushi Garg was proud of her fellow students’ performances.
“It was amazing to watch them go into their rounds and do well because it’s scary the first time you do it,” Garg said. “As a coach, I felt so proud of everything they were able to accomplish.”

The team’s second tournament was held in the Jack Howe Invitational at Cal State Long Beach from September 30 to October 1. Both the junior varsity and varsity teams competed at the tournament. There was also one member of the novice team who competed.

“This is one of the best moments I’ve had all year because so many of them did so well and it’s so rewarding seeing kids in your team do well and thrive,” Garg said.

The JV team had several winners. Junior June Peers placed second overall and won sixth best speaker. Junior Adya Barthwal placed as a quarterfinalist and won second-best speaker. Junior Navya Basetty also placed as a quarterfinalist and won fourth-best speaker. Junior Fredrick De Quiros won third best speaker and junior Evan Shin won tenth best speaker. On the varsity team, senior Emma Kedileri placed as a Double-Octofinalist and won second-best speaker. Junior and novice Nicole Kim was an Octofinalist.

Participating in debate cultivates essential research and communication skills. It helps students better their public speaking skills and expand their knowledge of world issues. Through debate, students can practice critical thinking and obtain tools for organization, presentations, and how to conduct research.

“Aside from debate helping you to build connections with other people in the school, I think it helps you find something you’re passionate about,” Kedileri said. “I think debate is a really good opportunity to get into other occupations that require public speaking.”