Photo courtesy of Grace Ding
From February 14th-15th, the Vestavia Hills Speech & Debate team competed in the Alabama State tournament. While the team has brought home “hardware,” or trophies, from various tournaments throughout the school year, this competition is the most coveted of the season!
On Friday, students missed school to compete at the Mountain Brook Junior High Campus. That morning, 12 Vestavia students competed in Congress. Congress consists of two sessions—each more than 2 hours long—where students must qualify for the second session based on their performance in the first. Students emulate a real legislative session, delivering speeches on multiple bills, questioning each other about specific proposals, and passing motions to advance the session. For every session, one student is elected presiding officer of the chamber.
The following are Vestavia’s Congress placements:
Novice Senate
3rd: Andy Sheng
6th: Alan Sheng
Super Session Presiding Officer: Anthony Li
Varsity House
1st: Veronica Zhang
2nd: Ellie Hoar
3rd: Greta Christiansen
6th: Judy Yamani
Super Session Presiding Officer: Greta Christiansen
By Friday afternoon, it was time for Speech students to compete. Rounds spanned five and a half hours, beginning at 2:30 in the afternoon and ending at 8:00 in the evening. Students competed in a variety of categories from Informative to Impromptu, After Dinner Speaking to Duo Interpretation. Notwithstanding the late hour, the Speech team was well rewarded for its efforts:
After Dinner Speaking
1st: Tina Gao
3rd: Tina Lou
6th: Greta Christiansen
Dramatic Interpretation
1st: Ruogu Lei
2nd: Avery Brooks
3rd: Avery Allen
4th: Ellie Hoar
Duo Interpretation
2nd: Anna Kate Bailey and Ethan Schmidt
Impromptu
5th: Ellie Hoar
Informative
3rd: Tina Lou
International Extemporaneous
1st: Veronica Zhang
Original Oratory
6th: Kaylee Zhao
Program Oral Interpretation
2nd: Avery Brooks
Prose Interpretation
1st: Tina Lou
US Extemporaneous
1st: Tina Gao
5th: Mark Hanna
On Saturday, Debaters spent a total of twelve hours competing on Hoover High School’s campus. Lincoln-Douglas debaters (in which individuals compete against each other) and Public Forum (wherein teams of two compete), were split into three divisions: novice, junior varsity, and varsity. All Big Question competitors were grouped in the same division. All three of these debate styles had five preliminary rounds followed by elimination rounds.
The following are the topics debated in each event:
LD: Resolved: The United States ought to become party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and/or the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
PF: Resolved: The United States should accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
BQ: Resolved: Creativity is a more powerful force than intelligence.
Here’s who placed!
Novice Lincoln Douglas
Semifinalist: Aadi Agarwal
Semifinalist: Alan Sheng
Quarterfinalist: Connor Moorhouse
JV Lincoln Douglas
2nd: Adi Sheelavant
Semifinalist: Eric Wang
Varsity Lincoln Douglas
1st: Mina Hu
Semifinalist: Veronica Zhang
Novice Public Forum
2nd: Reena Ramani and Astha Mehta
Semifinalists: Abigail Li and Anthony Li
JV Public Forum
2nd: Abigail Wang and Grace Ding
Semifinalists: Arhaan Lalani and Dev Patel
Varsity Public Forum
Semifinalists: Anvitha Yaparla and Vivian Shi
Quarterfinalists: Ishaan Singh and Rohan Parekh
Quarterfinalists: Timothy Li and Parker Liu
Quarterfinalists: Mark Hanna and Madilyn Whitener
Big Question
1st: Henry Jackson
All VHHS competitors were chosen based on their performance throughout the season. Then, in advance of the tournament, students spent hours developing their cases and speeches, taking time to research and practice together. By the time of the tournament, all that remained was to give their best performances and discover if their efforts would pay off in front of the judges. Ultimately, the Rebels’ practice, teamwork, and dedication propelled them to outstanding results.
Vestavia won first place in all three sweepstakes categories: Congress, Speech, and Debate! Naturally, VHHS claimed the title of first overall team as well.
Congratulations to our four-time state champions! Go Rebels!
To see more photos and info, check out the teams’ Instagrams:
@vhspeechanddeb8
@vhhspublicforum
@vestavia_hills_ld