Andy Le “Le”ads Speech and Debate
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Andy Le takes his spot under the classroom lights. The room is still, and the eyes of the students watch closely as an ocean of words begin pouring from him, ripping through the sea of silence.
Near the end of the 2022-23 school year, students who were participating in the Speech and Debate program were wondering who their new advisor was going to be for the next year. Luckily, their questions have been answered by the arrival of a new teacher, Andy Le, at the corner of E-building. This year Le is teaching English for grade 10 and 12 , and now, Oral Interpretation a.k.a Speech and Debate.
Speech and Debate is nothing new to Le. Le participated and competed in Speech and Debate for three years during his time in high school, winning several competitions.
“I joined Speech and Debate as a sophomore, where I won 1 or 2 ribbons. In my junior year, I won 1st place for State Qualifiers which allowed me to compete in State Championships,” Le said. “During my senior year, I won 2nd place at Spring Varsity for DI, and 1st place for Aloha Classic Invitational at Schurr High School.”
Out of all the events he participated in, his favorite was DI – a Dramatic Interpretation that requires the speaker to illustrate a piece of writing using facial expressions and gestures; the only rule is there can be no props. DI helped Le shake off a lot of awkwardness and pushed him to be more expressive.
“I was really drawn towards Dramatic Interpretation once I saw my captain perform his script to the entire class,” Le said. “I did not know how to act at all, but I tried really hard to improve my skills.”
What many students may not know is Le used to roam these same halls, which pulled him back to come teach at San Gabriel High School.
“Once a Matador, always a Matador. The community and programs here at SG are just top notch,” Le said. Anywhere I went to teach, I just felt like I was missing something. After some time, I realized I really wanted to coach Speech and Debate.”
As the new Speech and Debate advisor, Le came up with some goals for the club that he hopes to achieve this year.
- “Invest in the novices/first years, as it is an investment for the long term.”
- “Reflect as a team to evaluate our collective and individual strengths and weaknesses.”
- “To continue to grow in confidence and skills.”
“Admittingly, winning is just a byproduct for improvement, but the team morale grows really high when the team believes they can win.”
