Irvington High Speech And Debate Team Wins Awards at Speech Tournament
By Eswar Dhinakaran
On January 28, 2012, speech and debate team, along with advisor Mrs. Hull, competed at IE 3, a tournament at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Their competition was an assortment of speech teams from Northern California. Viking competitors were Yilin Du (freshman), Kelsey Ichikawa (freshman), Rohit Dilip (freshman), Kathleen Chen (junior) and Jessica Hsueh (senior).
Speech tournaments consist of different divisions based on skill levels and also different forms of speech that range from memorized speeches that require written preparation to impromptu speeches that give competitors two minutes to prepare a 5 minute speech on predetermined topics.
Vikings took several awards at the tournament. In OI, an event where competitors perform a speech that was delivered to the public, Kelsey Ichikawa and Kathleen Chen won 2nd and 4th place, respectively, in the novice division. In the novice division of impromptu, Rohit Dilip won 1st place.
When asked how he felt about his victory, Dilip said, “It was actually kind of unreal; I mean, I felt like asking ‘What? Really? Talking about me there?’ Still, it was really exciting, even though I was freaking out when they announced the winners.”
According to competitors, the tournament was both educational and entertaining. Kathleen Chen said, “I felt i did well, but there’s always room for improvement. The tournament was fun because I met a lot of cool, new people from all different places. Honestly, I wish I’d joined speech and debate earlier.”
Captain and junior Pallavi Sherikar commented, “”In my three years of being part of the IHS speech and debate team, I have never seen a group of members so motivated. Going to San Francisco ready to compete early in the morning after a week of stressful finals and bringing home so many awards shows not only true dedication to the team, but tremendous talent. I couldn’t be prouder to say I’m there captain.”
Photo: Mr. Dilip
Photo Caption: Rohit Dilip waits on the stage for his first place trophy.
