The Speech and Debate team earned the 6A sweepstakes award at their first tournament, the Moore Lions Classic, on September 29 and 30. The students traveled to Moore High School and competed both individually and in teams against students from other secondary schools around the state.
Public Forum debate focuses on current events and utilizes logic and evidence in their arguments. Sophomores Ryan Chen and Andrew Zheng placed second and junior John-Austin Little and senior Ryan Chuong ranked third in Public Forum debate.
North’s debate team advanced three Public Forum teams to the quarter-finals, including Little and Chuong, juniors Alexander Papavassiliou and Callen Stewart, and Chen and Zheng.
This year there were many new additions to the speech and debate team. Referred to as novices, those who are in their first year of competition are in a particular bracket where they will compete against other novices.
Despite it being their first competition, many of North’s novices broke, meaning they made it past the preliminary round.
Three Norman North Novice Public Forum teams made it to the quarter-finals, with two teams placing. Freshmen Ava Davis and Akshara Sakthivel broke and advanced to the quarter-finals. Freshmen Ahmed Irfan and Parker Henderson placed second overall in Novice Public Forum.
“Me and Ahmed were both satisfied with our performance, the overall experience of debate is so fun and we’re both loving it so far,” said Henderson who won top overall speaker in novice PF.
The Lincoln-Douglas (LD) style of debate emphasizes logic, ethical values, and philosophy. Sophomore Hannah Joo and senior Elianna Huang broke past partials and made it to the LD quarter-finals.
Novice Lincoln-Douglas debaters senior Joel Koo, sophomore Rhea Tulshan and freshman Amos Kofa all made it to the second of three total rounds. Tulshan ranked third overall in novice LD.
Domestic Extemporaneous (DEX) Speaking has students prepare a seven-minute speech on one of three current event topics in the U.S. In DEX from Norman North, Little placed first, senior Elias Sikavitsas placed third and Huang placed fourth.
“It is a very unique way for kids to express their opinions on what’s happening in our country right now” said DEX contestant Little. “I really appreciate the opportunity it gives us to learn about what’s happening in the world around us.”
Chuong competed in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (FEX) and won third place.
“I do FEX because it’s a great way for me to expose myself to what’s happening around the world,” said Chuong.“I place a lot of value on understanding the world I live in and doing FEX has been an incredible way for me to explore that passion.”
Dramatic Duet Interpretation involves two competitors working together to recreate a scene. Dramatic Duet partners juniors Emilie Adcock and Phoebe Risch won first in the field.
Dramatic Interpretation (DI) focuses on showing emotion using dramatic text. Senior Braxton Collett placed first in DI and Adcock placed second.
Humorous Interpretation (HI) presents a piece of literature whilst the actor works to interpret it in a comical way. Senior Darcy Spivey placed third in HI.
Monologue actors present a singular character and their related story. Junior Carisa Long placed first in Monologue and Collett ranked second.
Original Oratory participants write a speech with the intention of informing or persuading the audience. Senior Nicole Gilkey placed first and junior Lorelei Gent placed third in Original Oratory.
“The Moore Lions Tournament was a great bonding experience with the whole team. It was really fun to get to hang out with everyone,” said Tulshan.
The Moore Lions Tournament marked the start of the Debate season. In the past years, many speech and debate members have advanced to compete in a national tournament taking place during the summer, the sweepstakes is the first award the team has won this season.
