While everyone else was enjoying the first day of their well-earned Fall Break, Foothill’s Speech Team was hard at work at the Fullerton Invitational Speech Tournament.

The speech team competes at league tournaments, where participants are designated by location, and invitational tournaments, where any school in the state can come to compete in debate or individual events.

“Students learn more when exposed to diverse competition,” Jennifer Kindred, the team adviser, said of invitationals,

And the competition was indeed diverse, with schools from Los Angeles to Bakersfield and beyond represented in various events.

Senior Steven Ellison was on one of two Foothill Public Forum debate teams that made it to the quarter-finals. He and his partner, Sophomore Aron Egelko, did not make it to the finals, but Steven assured The Dragon Press that he enjoyed the experience and felt it was valuable to get feedback early in the year.

Ellison also competed and made the finals in Original Prose and Poetry, an individual event in which students compose poems or prose of their own to perform.

Juniors Bryan Hickman and Karen Fox made up the other team to reach the quarter-finals in Public Forum. Hickman felt that the tournament was worthwhile because he had fun and got experience debating a wider variety of people.

It was a good trip for the team all around, as Freshman Luke Ballmer also made it to the final for novice Student Congress.

“Students interested in talking or creativity should really give this a shot,” said Mr. Villa, the second adviser for the team. Both Villa and Kindred praised the students’ efforts at the tournament so early in the year.

Speech team members and teachers agreed that the event was a good way to start the year and plan to take the trip again next year.