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The Foothill Dragon Press

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Speech and Debate team places high during first trip to Stanford tournament

Foothills+Speech+and+Debate+team+did+well+at+a+tournament+at+Stanford+University+last+weekend.+Credit%3A+Khaila+Hartung-Dallas.+Used+with+permission.
Foothill's Speech and Debate team did well at a tournament at Stanford University last weekend. Credit: Khaila Hartung-Dallas. Used with permission.
Foothill’s Speech and Debate team did well at a tournament at Stanford University last weekend. Credit: Khaila Hartung-Dallas. Used with permission.

The Speech and Debate team participated in a tournament at Stanford University last weekend. There were so many participants that many had to compete in hotel rooms instead of on the campus, however the team placed well.

“Imagine 200 people waiting to get into two elevators, teenagers lining hallways because they have nowhere to sit, and when you finally get in [to the hotel bedroom] there are either 13 people crowded in the back or you’re by yourself with the judge sitting on the desk chair,” senior Chris Hanna said.

Hanna and his partner, senior Amelia Gomez, almost made it into quarter-finals performing under the Interpretive Events category with an interpretive skit. Even though he didn’t make it into “out rounds,” Hanna said it was still worth competing.

“It’s an awesome experience, and I got to hang out with Mr. Villa and Mrs. Kindred all weekend!” Hanna said.

In these tournaments, the Speech and Debate team is split into two sections: debate and individual. Both categories have subcategories which the student then picks to perform. While Mathematics and AVID teacher Anthony Villa supervises the debaters, English and Speech/Debate teacher Jennifer Kindred is in charge of the individuals.

Each individual or duo is guaranteed at least six rounds and after that the judges start making cuts. The standard contestants that move onto “out rounds” are those with wins of 6:0, 5:1, and 4:2. Each of Foothill’s teams made it into at least one elimination round.

Seniors Marnie Vaughan and Annabelle Warren both competed as individuals in Interpretive Events. Vaughan made it to the top 30 with dramatic interpretation and Warren made it to the semi-finals with humorous interpretations.

Students like freshmen Fidelity Ballmer and Khaila Hartung-Dallas who were competing in public forum were able to prepare for three weeks compiling evidence for their debates. This duo made it to triple octafinals, top 64 out of 165 teams.

Similarly, the duo of sophomore Lucas Wiltjer and senior Luke Ballmer broke to double octafinals in parliamentary, ranking top 32 out of 132. These competitors were given only 30 minutes to prepare for their debate. Villa describes this category as being similar to “giving your five paragraph essay in seven minutes.”

“I thought it went exceedingly well overall. We’ve gone to the Berkeley tournament before and it’s [Stanford] like the Nordstrom’s effect, they’re happy to have you there,” Kindred said, “At Berkeley the attitude is, ‘You’re lucky to be here.’”

Although the season is over for the year Villa said, “It’s important for the students to know that if they have questions come talk to us for next year.”

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Speech and Debate team places high during first trip to Stanford tournament