The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

Speech and Debate Team Dominates in Santa Clara Invitational

Last weekend on April 12 and 13, the Mountain View Los Altos Debate Team competed in the Santa Clara University Philalethic Invitational. Unlike other competitions, this invitational hosted both speech and debate events, as opposed to focusing on a single event. The team finished with placings in many of the offered events.

Sophomores Julia Wang and Will Alexander were both quarterfinalists in Lincoln-Douglas. Will also finished as first speaker. Junior Ashwin Vaidyanathan placed second in Congress and first in Impromptu, while seniors Yashwant Parmar and Zoe Morgan qualified as quarterfinalists in Parliamentary Debate, with Zoe taking home an additional first speaker award. Sophomore Shruti Juneja was fourth in Oratorical Interpretation.

“Even though it felt good to win, we knew heading in that winning wasn’t everything and that it was more important that we learned life skills such as how to communicate better in public,” Public Forum co-captain junior Ashwin Vaidyanathan said. “That’s what I really got out of that tournament.”

The team hopes to improve for their final tournaments in the upcoming and final months of the school year.

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