The Brawl at the Mall: Victory for the VHHS Speech & Debate

Credits: Tina Lou; Pictured: Linda Lou, Caitlyn Webster-Roberts, Evelyn Kutny

One of Alabama’s most unique speech and debate tournaments takes place at Loveless Academic Magnet Program (LAMP), but there’s a surprising backstory to LAMP. It actually used to be an old shopping mall, Montgomery Mall! Now the building has been repurposed into a high school, and the tournament is named “The Brawl at the Mall” for a throwback. 

Credits: Mike Kalasnik; Pictured: the old mall

For context, the current National Speech and Debate Association debate topics are as follows (which side would you support?):

Lincoln Douglas - Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, plea bargaining is just.

Public Forum  - Resolved: The United Kingdom should rejoin the European Union. 

Big Questions - Resolved: Moral systems rooted in theism are preferable to non-theistic moral systems. 

This year, VHHS competitors brought home many medals across multiple events in both Speech and Debate. In Big Questions, Connor Moorhouse got second. Connor also got 6th place in Lincoln-Douglas debate. In Public Forum debate, Astha Mehta and Kaylee Zhao became champions. 

In speech events, VHHS continued to dominate the Brawl. Astha received 3rd place for extemporaneous speaking. In the impromptu speaking event, four Vestavia students placed within the top five, dominating the field. Divya received 5th place, Yuki received 4th place, Evelyn received 2nd place, and Kaylee became champion in a second event.  

Both extemporaneous speaking and impromptu speaking require competitors to come up with a speech within a time limit. For extemporaneous, the topic is often policy-driven, and speakers are given 30 minutes to research before giving a 7-minute speech. Impromptu speaking has a much shorter duration, where speakers only have 7 minutes to both gather their thoughts and perform their speeches. 

In informative speaking, Yuki received 7th place, and Evelyn received 5th place. In the original oratory event, Yuki placed 4th, and Kaylee earned yet another win.

Our students also picked many interesting topics for these events, ranging from the psychology behind horror movies to the death of teenage culture. 

Needless to say, VHHS Speech and Debate truly won the Brawl at the Mall. Go Rebels!