Vestavia's Speech and Debate Team Wins Again!

Over the weekend of April 12-13, Vestavia’s Speech and Debate Team competed in one of their last competitions of the year: Alabama State. Previously, the Speech and Debate Team had already won in the past 2 years against fierce competitors from all over Alabama including schools like the Loveless Academy Magnet Program High School (LAMP), Mountain Brook, Prattville, and Montgomery Academy. Students from Vestavia competed in events ranging from Dramatic Interpretation which involves interpreting a piece of literature through facial expressions and vocal inflections, to Lincoln-Douglas Debate, an event where two debaters argue for and against a resolution.

Many of these students have been honing their speeches and practicing debate strategies for the last school year whether that be presenting their speeches in front of the class or going through practice debates even outside of school. Their amazing results show the immense work they’ve put in over the years, as well as the help of their fellow peers and the Speech and Debate Sponsor, Mr. Conoly who has put in a lot of effort teaching and guiding these students.

Several of the top scorers are:

After-Dinner Speaking:

1st Place: Greta Christiansen

2nd Place: Tina Lou

4th Place: Reva Lingala

Big Questions: 

Semifinalists: Holland Warren / Henry Jackson

Dramatic Interpretation:

1st Place: Ruogu Lei

5th Place: McKenzie Ormond

Duo Interpretation:

6th Place: Anna Kate Bailey and Ethan Schmidt

Humorous Interpretation:

3rd Place: Annie Hu

4th Place: Tina Gao

Impromptu:

2nd Place: Vivian Lin

3rd Place: Zhu Zhu Wang

Informative:

3rd Place: Tina Lou

International Extemporaneous:

1st Place: Zhu Zhu Wang

3rd Place: Tina Gao

JV Lincoln Douglas:

State Champion: Mina Hu

JV Public Forum:

Semifinalists: Anvitha Yaparla and Vivian Shi

Novice Lincoln Douglas: 

Quarterfinalists: Krish Chintareddy

Semifinalists: Veronica Zhang / Adi Sheelavant

Runner Up: Eric Wang

Novice Public Forum:

Quarterfinalists: Sophia Li and Abigail Wang / Arhaan Lalani and Partul Danasekar

Semifinalists: Dev Patel and Yash Pillai

State Champions: Anna Kate Bailey and Ishaan Singh

Novice Senate:

6th Veronica Zhang

5th Mina Hu

3rd Yash Pillai

Poetry Interpretation:

4th Place: Mariam Malik

Prose Interpretation:

1st Place: Zhu Zhu Wang

Varsity Lincoln Douglas:

Semifinalist: Eddy Pang

Varsity Senate:

1st Place: Eddy Pang

2nd Place: Hope Johnson

5th Place: Greta Christiansen

6th Place: Tina Gao

Overall, Vestavia took not only 1st in the Overall Sweepstakes but also managed to place first in every category (Congress, Speech, and Debate). The next competition that the Speech and Debate Team plans to attend is NSDA Nationals which will be held in Iowa this year from June 16-21. Congratulations!