Photo courtesy of Julia Quach. From left to right: Julia Quach, Josephine Oetomo, Nathanael Irawan, and freshman Zuyuan Zhou. Oetomo qualified for a ribbon in the Spontaneous Argumentation debates category, in which she had to develop an impromptu argument with only a few minutes.
Students participate in Spring Novice Speech Competition at Gabrielino
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On Feb. 5, the Southern California Debate League’s (SCDL) annual Spring Novice Speech Competition was held at Gabrielino High School. Nine students from the school’s Speech and Debate team participated.
The Speech and Debate program strives to improve their speaking skills. Through competitions, students develop confidence and the ability to make speeches and presentations for large groups to deliver their messages.
“From the competition, I can see other peoples’ speeches and their skills and see what I can learn from them,” sophomore Nathanael Irawan said. “I can improve on my pronunciation and my hand gestures in the future. Participating in the competition is a very good experience to have.”
Participants competed against each other in three rounds and were evaluated by two varsity student judges. Student judges have at least one year of competition experience.
“I was very pleasantly surprised by the contestants’ performances because some were very entertaining and fun to watch,” junior Julia Quach said. “When I judge, I pay attention to their tone, facial expressions, hand gestures, walking, voice projection, and eye contact. I judge their overall speech skills and how much they are able to keep the audience’s attention.”
The school’s Speech and Debate team placed in a variety of categories; among them, sophomore Josephine Oetomo who placed fourth in Spontaneous Argumentation debates (SPAR) and received the title of MVP for the school.
“It felt pretty good to hear my name, but besides feeling good, I wanted to do better,” Oetomo said. “I’m thankful for my awards, and I hope the next time I come back from a competition, I come back with the champion award.”
With the valuable experience they have accumulated from this competition, the Speech and Debate team will continue practicing to prepare for the State Quals Speech Competition in March and the Novice Champs Speech in May.
