Speech and Debate recently competed in the Southern California Debate League (SCDL) State Qualifier. The tournament took place over two consecutive weekends. Individual Events were held on Feb. 27 to Feb. 28 at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Some debate events were also held then, but most took place at Schurr High School on Mar. 6. In the end, AHS produced __ trophy winners. 14 of them are moving on to compete in the California State Championships, which will be held during late April in Bakersfield.
“A quote about the importance of State Quals,” said First and Last Name, “continue quote about blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.”
Speech and Debate has been working extremely hard for months. Students can often be seen practicing in the quad during class, but countless more hours are devoted to truly fine-tune their skills as they write and memorize speeches, research debate topics, cut and edit scripts, and map out body movements.
Of course, much of Speech and Debate’s success would not be possible without the leadership of Ms. Josipa Casey (Ms. Ashley Novak, who normally coaches the team, is on maternity leave) and a dedicated team of officers. Beyond just bringing the team to and from tournaments, officers also organizing afterschool workshops, potlucks, and fundraisers.
The officers, members, and Ms. Casey finally saw the result of their hard work unfold at State Quals. The Individual Events tournament took place on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28. On Saturday, three preliminary rounds took place and the 18 semifinalists for each category were named in the evening. The next day, semifinals took place in the morning followed by finals – a round reserved for the top seven. As for who gets to go to Bakersfield, the number of spots for each event can be as low as five. More than a few Arcadians managed to trophy but could not qualify.
To make matters more interesting, any person can only compete in one category at State, meaning double-qualifiers must “drop” an event. This caused some who would otherwise not have qualified – including a few semifinalists – to be “bumped” up to an open slot.
“A quote about State Quals, how difficult it is to qualify, overall experience,” said First Name and Last Name, “quote quote quote quote blah blah blah blah blah.”
Meanwhile, the debaters – a group often robbed of their deserved recognition alongside the Individual Event competitors – were also posting impressive results of their own. Unfortunately, only one of them managed to qualify for State while several others suffering losses by the narrowest of margins.
Overall, AHS finished third behind Gabrielino High School and San Marino High School. We wish the state qualifiers the best of luck in the upcoming months!
“A quote about the importance of State Quals,” said First and Last Name, “continue quote about blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.”
Speech and Debate has been working extremely hard for months. Students can often be seen practicing in the quad during class, but countless more hours are devoted to truly fine-tune their skills as they write and memorize speeches, research debate topics, cut and edit scripts, and map out body movements.
Of course, much of Speech and Debate’s success would not be possible without the leadership of Ms. Josipa Casey (Ms. Ashley Novak, who normally coaches the team, is on maternity leave) and a dedicated team of officers. Beyond just bringing the team to and from tournaments, officers also organizing afterschool workshops, potlucks, and fundraisers.
The officers, members, and Ms. Casey finally saw the result of their hard work unfold at State Quals. The Individual Events tournament took place on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28. On Saturday, three preliminary rounds took place and the 18 semifinalists for each category were named in the evening. The next day, semifinals took place in the morning followed by finals – a round reserved for the top seven. As for who gets to go to Bakersfield, the number of spots for each event can be as low as five. More than a few Arcadians managed to trophy but could not qualify.
To make matters more interesting, any person can only compete in one category at State, meaning double-qualifiers must “drop” an event. This caused some who would otherwise not have qualified – including a few semifinalists – to be “bumped” up to an open slot.
“A quote about State Quals, how difficult it is to qualify, overall experience,” said First Name and Last Name, “quote quote quote quote blah blah blah blah blah.”
Meanwhile, the debaters – a group often robbed of their deserved recognition alongside the Individual Event competitors – were also posting impressive results of their own. Unfortunately, only one of them managed to qualify for State while several others suffering losses by the narrowest of margins.
Overall, AHS finished third behind Gabrielino High School and San Marino High School. We wish the state qualifiers the best of luck in the upcoming months!