Speech and Debate Competes at Big GUMP Classic

The Vestavia Speech and Debate team set out early on the morning of October 13, 2023, to compete in the Big GUMP Classic at Montgomery Academy. This tournament holds great significance for debaters, as it offers a coveted place in the Tournament of Champions, one of the most prestigious debate events held annually in Kentucky each April, with only top performers in each category competing.

The team arrived on time to compete in its first event: Congress. Congressional Debate (CD) simulates the United States legislative process in the Senate and House. Several bills are introduced to the competitors, often referred to as Senators or Representatives, who then take sides for or against the bills, delivering passionate speeches either supporting or criticizing them. Vestavia excelled, with numerous top-10 placements: Edward Pang (1st), Reva Lingala and Hope Johnson (tied for 2nd), Ellie Hoar and Holland Warren (tied for 4th), and Tina Gao (5th).

The two debate events, Big Questions (BQ) and Varsity/Novice Public Forum (PF), began on Friday afternoon and ran until Saturday afternoon. Both formats involve a back-and-forth debate between two sides supporting opposing resolutions. Big Questions typically tackles more philosophical topics and features one-on-one debates, while Public Forum focuses on current real-world events and consists of two teams of two debating each other. The Big Questions resolution was "Resolved: Belief in the supernatural is incompatible with belief in science." The Public Forum resolution for this tournament was "Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its military presence in the Arctic."

Competitors in Big Questions performed exceptionally well, with Holland Warren and Hope Johnson tying for 1st and Madhumita Ravikumar securing 4th place. Novice Public Forum saw all three teams placing in the top 4: Abigail Wang & Sophia Li and Grace Ding & Veronica Zhang (tied for 1st), and Arhaan Lalani & Pratul Danasekar (3rd). In Varsity Public Forum, three teams achieved top-8 placements: Edward Pang & Armaan Lalani (1st), Bryan Zhang & Tina Gao (6th), and Archana Rajasekaran & Reena Ramani (8th). In addition to their first-place finishes, Edward Pang and Armaan Lalani both obtained gold bids, a step toward qualifying them for the Tournament of Champions in April.

All speech events began on Saturday morning. Unlike debate events, competitors in speech deliver a variety of presentations, ranging from humorous and informative to persuasive. They may even include poetry, nursery rhymes, or various forms of storytelling. What makes speech particularly challenging is that these speeches must be memorized, and some events even require participants to create and perform a speech on the spot within a limited time frame. Vestavia performed extremely well in several speech events, with Lily Xie (4th in Dramatic Interpretation), Tina Lou (4th in Informative Speaking), and Fatima Malik (2nd in Prose and Program Oral Interpretation).

In the end, the Vestavia Speech and Debate Team clutched the overall first-place trophy, outperforming 15 other schools, including Mountain Brook, Auburn, and Spain Park. We are immensely proud of our Vestavia Speech and Debate Team for their outstanding achievements at the Big GUMP Classic!