It all started with MSD Day on August 26th. Here's a short recap of first semester. What's missing is an infinite amount of smiles, moments shared, and lessons learned. We'll see you next year!
Last weekend, the Archbishop Mitty Speech and Debate Team began their 2017-2018 season with a trip to Long Beach to compete at the nationally recognized Jack Howe Memorial Invitational. With 54 students on the trip, this marked the largest group ever to attend a speech and debate travel tournament. Following two weeks of blitzes with countless practice rounds and time checks, the students came together as a group to partake in an evening of skits and friendly competition.
Friday afternoon came and we were off to SoCal! During the 8 hour bus ride, students played games, finished up their cases and put final touches on their pieces.
After a lunch on the road and a pizza party late night at the hotel, we gathered in the lobby to receive our first set of tangible metaphors from our teammates. After a quick motivational talk from Mrs. Cruz, we all went to bed, ready for an exciting first day of competition.
Early Saturday morning, the 27 debaters assembled in the lobby to make it to their early 8AM round. Speech members wished the debaters good luck as they left and began getting ready for their later start time at noon. Of course through all of this, we didn’t forget to take pictures!
After an exhausting day, with 5 rounds for every debate event and 3 preliminary rounds for every speech event, the competitors returned to the hotel anxiously waiting for breaks to be revealed. The results were in! MSD had 27 speech students advance to the semifinal round!!
Early Sunday morning, the debaters competed in their 6th preliminary round. Following this round, Public Forum had 3 teams break to Double Octofinals (Top 32 teams) and Parliamentary Debate had ALL FOUR TEAMS break straight to octofinals. (Top 16 Teams). Amazing job to all the debaters!
Following a tough semifinal round the speech pool narrowed from the top 14 to the top 7. Of the 27 students that made it to semifinals, we had 16 students break to the final round of competition!
After one more final round in speech, it was time for awards! Congratulations to the following students who were recognized at the awards ceremony:
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Rahul Ramakrishnan & Vedant Vamshidhar (Semi Finalist Team)
Aayush Sutaria & Anish Patel (Octofinalist Team)
Jon Telebrico & Mayank Killedar (Octofinalist Team)
Helena Getayalew & Roksana Gorgolewski (Octofinalist Team)
2nd Best Speaker - Aayush Sutaria
6th Best Speaker - Helena Getayalew
PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE
Mukil Pari & Tushar Agashe (Quarter Finalist Team)
Shriya Nandwani & Amit Ahluwalia (Double Octofinalist Team)
Amun Asnani & Saumil Thakore (Double Octofinalist Team)
5th Best Speaker - Mukil Pari
DRAMATIC INTERP
Amelia Whitney (2nd)
Conor Sherry (5th)
Shanaya Sales (Semi Finalist)
Maddie Davis (Semi Finalist)
Max Slade (Semi Finalist)
DUO INTERP
**Conor Sherry & Amelia Whitney (1st)**
Maddie Davis & Shanaya Sales (2nd)
Naman Dandia & Julian Sanghvi (6th)
Jake Ledger & Liv Monroy (Semi Finalist)
Keili Fitzgerald & Suroor Nakhoda (Semi Finalist)
EXPOSITORY SPEAKING
Maddie Whalen (2nd)
Kritika Yerrapotu (3rd)
Riya Dhoopar (5th)
Priya Ravi (6th)
Keili Fitzgerald (7th)
HUMOROUS INTERP
Liv Monroy (3rd)
Emma Skeet (4th)
Naman Dandia (Semi Finalist)
ORIGINAL ADVOCACY
**Heather Cherniss (1st)**
ORIGINAL PROSE & POETRY
**Max Slade (1st)**
Suroor Nakhoda (2nd)
THEMATIC INTERP
Aneri Bhatt (Semi Finalist)
As a team, we did amazing! Mitty placed 3rd in Debate as a school and 1st in Speech as a school. In overall sweepstakes, MSD placed FIRST out of more than 140 schools! Congratulations everyone! Special thanks to alumni Erica Johnson for coming to support the team!
After the tournament wrapped up, the entire group went to Glow Zone for some post-tournament fun. This included mini-golf, bowling, bumper cars, obstacle courses and TONS more!! Everyone had an amazing time and made memories with all their teammates.
The next morning everyone had breakfast together and we began our bus ride back to San Jose filled with excitement and memories to share with the rest of the team. We wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to parents, Mrs. Whalen, Mrs. Korb and Mrs. Whitney for chaperoning and judging over the weekend. Also a huge thank you to our coaches, Mr. Ko, Mr. Woodhead, Mr. Cruz and Mrs. Cruz! None of this would be possible without your constant support and guidance.
With the Long Beach Invitational behind us, it’s now time to switch gears and get ready for our upcoming league speech and debate competitions in October and November. We can’t wait for all that’s to come during the rest of the season!!
After capturing our second California State Championship in April, the Mitty Speech and Debate team travelled to Birmingham, Alabama for the 2017 National Speech and Debate Tournament. Let’s take a look at our journey…
Immediately after graduation, we began meeting to cut new scripts, block new pieces, put together new cases and rehearse our speeches. After two weeks of blitzes, team members surprised us with an Ice Cream Party and care packages to send us off!
Competitors met at San Jose Airport on Saturday morning to catch their flight to Atlanta. After landing in Atlanta and making the quick journey to Birmingham, we got to our hotel.
Early the next day, we went to the Sheraton Hotel for tournament registration as well as to the grocery store to stock up on tournament snacks.
The night before preliminary rounds saw some inspirational talks by the coaches as well as some well thought out, personalized tangible metaphors made by Lucas! Not only that, but the parents sent us a thoughtful Edible Arrangements gift as well.
On Monday morning we had four preliminary rounds followed by two more preliminary rounds on Tuesday.
Everyone put energy, passion and poise into each of their rounds and now it was time to see the results. Cutting from the top 240 in the nation all the way down to the top 60, the breaks were tough, however MSD did outstanding. The breaks to octo-finals were as follows:
In Dramatic Interpretation: Erica Johnson
In Humorous Interpretation: Arjun Biju
In Duo Interpretation: Pranavi Javangula and Esha Bhatia
In Original Oratory: Lucas Kernan
In Program Oral Interpretation: Conor Sherry
In International Extemporaneous: Eshan Gupta and Akaash Tawade
In Public Forum Debate: Koji Flynn-Do and Jolie Leung
After two tough octofinal rounds, the competition pool narrowed from the top 60 to the top 30. We were left with 3 national quarterfinalists!!...
In Original Oratory: Lucas Kernan
In Program Oral Interpretation: Conor Sherry
In International Extemporaneous: Akaash Tawade
In Public Forum Debate, Koji Flynn-Do and Jolie Leung, also made it to round 9 on Wednesday morning.
Following two more quarterfinal rounds on Wednesday and incredible performances by the three quarterfinalists, the breaks to national semifinals (Top 14) were announced. We emerged with our national semifinalist...
In Program Oral Interpretation: Conor Sherry
Koji and Jolie also continued their run in Public Forum remaining in competition until Round 13 on Thursday morning!
On Thursday afternoon, the team made a quick run to Build-a-Bear Workshop. Following Nationals tradition, every competitor made their own bear to remind them of this tournament or the piece that they delivered.
Oh, and don’t think we didn’t have amazing food all along the way! We had everything from Thai food to Barbeque Chicken as well as some yummy cake for Koji’s birthday.
Starting Thursday, final rounds began at the Birmingham Concert Hall. The team, along with hundreds of other students, watched the incredible Interp final rounds all of Thursday evening.
After watching debate final rounds as a team on Friday afternoon, the much anticipated awards ceremony began in the evening. At the awards ceremony, Mitty Speech and Debate was given the highest possible award – The School of Outstanding Distinction Award. This means that for the THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR, MSD was one of the Top 10 Speech and Debate Schools in the nation. In addition to an incredible team showing, individual results were as follows:
Dramatic Interpretation:
Octofinalist (Top 60) – Erica Johnson
Duo Interpretation:
Octofinalists (Top 60) – Pranavi Javangula and Esha Bhatia
Humorous Interpretation:
Octofinalist (Top 60) – Arjun Biju
Program Oral Interpretation:
10th – Conor Sherry
International Extemporaneous:
Quarterfinalist (Top 30) – Akaash Tawade
Octofinalist (Top 60) – Eshan Gupta
Original Oratory:
Quarterfinalist (Top 30) – Lucas Kernan
Public Forum Debate:
9th place - Koji Flynn-Do & Jolie Leung
With the tournament now behind them, the team took a Saturday morning flight back home where they were greeted by family and friends. A truly amazing way to end the week. A huge thank you to everyone who came out and welcomed us – the support and love means the world.
The end of the national tournament marked the official end to the 2016-2017 season. A final thank you to everyone who has supported us through the entire journey – friends, family, teammates, teachers, coaches and the Mitty administration. We are excited to build upon all that we have learned this year to come out even stronger next year. Even more however, we hope to continue fostering our relationships and learning more of the meaningful lessons that this activity has to offer.
After four state qualifying tournaments, the team was ready to defend their state title at the 2017 CHSSA State Tournament in Arcadia, California! With 46 competitors - the most in the Coast Forensics League as well as the most in MSD history - we were ready for what was to come! Let’s take a look at how it all went down…
In the weeks leading up to the tournament, we practiced during class and after school almost daily – working hard on our pieces and our cases.
The week of the tournament brought the always fun, Parent Potluck. All 46 competitors and their families met for amazing food and game night where every competitor also took a few minutes to talk about what Speech and Debate meant for them. We also found out our State Rooming Buddies and Sweethearts as well! A HUGE thank you to the Lewis family for hosting this memorable event!
After weeks of anticipation, the day had come for the team to head to Southern California for the tournament. After two stops and a delicious dinner with our State Sweethearts, we arrived at the hotel the night before our first rounds of competition.
Following MSD tradition, Senior Speeches were given by every graduating senior. The speeches were broadcast on Instagram so the entire team back home could enjoy the reflections live. Each speech left everyone energized and thankful for this activity.
Before day one of competition, everyone was given their tangible metaphors for the weekend. Each competitor was given a bag with notes from their peers which served to truly pump everyone up the night before. Thanks to everyone who wrote the kind words and gave us the cute gifts!
The next two days brought the preliminary rounds of competition in both speech and debate. After more than a hundred combined preliminary rounds by the team, it was time for the breaks to semifinals in speech. With a difficult cut from the top 56 competitors to the top 18, the night was emotional, but the breaks, as always, were phenomenal:
Semifinalists in International Extemporaneous: Eshan Gupta and Mukil Pari
Semifinalists in National Extemporaneous: Charlie Pyle and Rahul Devarapalli
Semifinalist in Impromptu: Vedant Vamshidhar
Semifinalist in Original Advocacy: Darya Kaviani
Semifinalist in Original Oratory: Cassie Korb
Semifinalists in Dramatic Interpretation: Conor Sherry, Erica Johnson and Shanaya Sales
Semifinalists in Humorous Interpretation: Amelia Whitney, John Lahey and Julian Sanghvi
Semifinalists in Oratorical Interpretation: Draigh Ricketson and Anna Wymbs
Semifinalists in Thematic Interpretation: Colin Anderson, Nkem Nnam, Emma Skeet and Madelyn Davis
Semifinalists in Duo Interpretation: Pranavi Javangula and Esha Bhatia, Naman Dandia and Jake Ledger
Semifinalists in Original Prose and Poetry: Paige Decena and Fiona Pestana
Semifinalists in Congressional Debate: Siddhant Gannu
Also, Congratulations to the following debate teams:
Anish Patel and Aayush Sutaria for advancing to Round 4 in Parliamentary Debate.
Arushi Lahiri and Kirthi Ponuswammy for advancing to Round 4 in Policy Debate.
Murad Awad and Liyang Chen for advancing to Round 5 in Policy Debate.
Eshan Gupta and Aditi Chatradhi for advancing to Round 6 in Policy Debate.
Darya Kaviani and Roshni Varma for advancing to Round 6 in Public Forum Debate.
After a difficult semifinal round the next morning, the team gathered in a circle to find out who our 2017 state finalists would be! After a difficult cut from the top 18 competitors to the top 7, the following were MSD state finalists:
Original Oratory Finalist: Cassandra Korb
Humorous Interpretation Finalist: Amelia Whitney
Oratorical Interpretation Finalist: Draigh Ricketson
Dramatic Interpretation Finalist: Erica Johnson
Thematic Interpretation Finalists: Colin Anderson and Madelyn Davis
Duo Interpretation Finalist: Pranavi Javangula and Esha Bhatia
Congressional Debate Finalist: Siddhant Gannu
Public Forum Finalists: Koji Flynn-Do and Jolie Leung
After all the finalists gave incredible performances with passion and energy, it now came time for awards! After 3 days of intense competition, congratulations to ALL the competitors. The full results…
Dramatic Interpretation:
3rd place - Erica Johnson
8th place - Conor Sherry
9th place - Shanaya Sales
Duo Interpretation:
1st place - Pranavi Javangula and Esha Bhatia
11th place - Jake Ledger and Naman Dandia
Humorous Interpretation:
4th place - Amelia Whitney
14th place - Julian Sanghvi
17th place - John Lahey
Impromptu:
14th place - Vedant Vamshidhar
International Extemporaneous:
9th place - Eshan Gupta
12th place - Mukil Pari
National Extemporaneous:
12th place - Charlie Pyle
18th place - Rahul Devarapalli
Oratorical Interpretation:
4th place - Draigh Ricketson
13th place - Anna Wymbs
Original Advocacy:
9th place - Darya Kaviani
Original Prose and Poetry:
8th place - Fiona Pestana
9th place - Paige Decena
Original Oratory:
7th place - Cassandra Korb
Thematic Interpretation:
1st place - Madelyn Davis
3rd place - Colin Anderson
10th place - Emma Skeet
18th place - Nkem Nnam
Congressional Debate:
2nd place - Siddhant Gannu
Policy Debate:
8th place - Eshan Gupta & Aditi Chatradhi
13th place - Murad Awad & Liyang Chen
Public Forum Debate:
2nd place - Koji Flynn-Do & Jolie Leung
8th place - Darya Kaviani & Roshni Varma
Team Sweepstakes:
1st place - Archbishop Mitty
At the end of the day, we emerged with TWO STATE CHAMPIONS! Junior Madelyn Davis in Thematic Interpretation as well as Junior Esha Bhatia and Senior Pranavi Javangula in Duo Interpretation. In addition, Mitty Speech and Debate defended their state title and for the second consecutive year, were named the TOP Speech and Debate school in California!!
After the awards ceremony, the team headed to Dave and Busters for a bit of post awards fun – food, games, dancing and team bonding!
The next morning, the team headed back home with smiles on their faces and unforgettable memories. A huge thank you for those who made this possible – family, friends, teachers, coaches and the Mitty administration. This wouldn’t have been possible without the constant love, support and guidance.
Yikes! We've been so busy competing, we're a bit behind on our website updates. Thank you for your interest in all things MSD!
After an intense swing of State Quals and Nat Quals tournaments we're happy to announce that we have qualified 43 students to the State tournament in Arcadia this April, and 12 (so far) to Nationals in Alabama this June! We also were awarded 1st place in the Coast Forensics League 2016 - 2017 Sweepstakes!
Congratulations to sophomores Roshni Varma, Darya Kaviani; junior Jolie Leung; and senior Koji Flynn-Do for qualifying to State in Public Forum Debate.
Congratulations to the following students for qualifying to State in their respective individual events: freshmen Jake Ledger, Naman Dandia; sophomores Julian Sanghvi, Shanaya Sales, Conor Sherry, Emma Skeet, Aneri Bhatt, Anna Wymbs, Darya Kaviani, Vedant Vamshidhar, Roksana Gorgolweski, Eshan Gupta; juniors John Lahey, Amelia Whitney, Esha Bhatia, Maxwell Slade, Olivia Monroy, Cassie Korb, Madelyn Davis, Jasmine Ho, Mukil Pari; and seniors Piper Lewis, Erica Johnson, Pranavi Javangula, Colin Anderson, Emily Goes, Draigh Ricketson, Paige Decena, Fiona Pestana, Charlie Pyle, and Seher Randhawa.
Congratulations to freshmen Kirthi Ponnuswamy, Arushi Lahiri; sophomores Eshan Gupta, Aditi Chatradhi; and seniors Liyang Chen and Murad Awad for qualifying to State in Policy Debate.
Congratulations to sophomore Aayush Sutaria; junior Rahul Ramakrishnan; and seniors Siddhant Gannu and Akaash Tawade for qualifying to State in Congressional Debate.
Congratulations to our National Qualifiers!
DUO Interp - Pranavi Javangula / Esha Bhatia
Humorous Interp - Arjun Biju
Original Oratory - Lucas Kernan
Dramatic Interp - Erica Johnson
Program Oral Interp - Conor Sherry / Maddie Davis
Informative Speaking - Seher Randhawa
International Extemp - Akaash Tawade / Eshan Gupta
Public Forum Debate - Koji Flynn-Do / Jolie Leung
Wish us luck as we prepare for one more National Qualification Tournament next weekend, and then State!
Want to see what we've been working on? Join us April 10th in the Kinkade Theater for our annual Speech and Debate showcase.
ALL IN!
Congratulations on another fantastic weekend of competition! Leading up to Super Debate on Saturday and League 2 on Sunday, the team was excited and ready to rack up more wild cards. Thank you to both speech and debate for being extremely supportive of each other throughout the week.
Speech surprised debate with root beer floats the night before their tournament!
Debate created a beautiful video telling speech why they love them. So cute
Both tournaments were a huge success! Congratulations to the following 6 teams who received debate wild cards on Saturday:
Public Forum: Koji Flynn-Do/ Jolie Leung, Amit Ahluwalia/ Shriya Nandwani, Roshni Varma/ Darya Kaviani
Policy: Kirthi Ponnuswamy/ Arushi Lahiri, Eshan Gupta/ Aditi Chatradhi
Parli: Helena Getayalew/ Raymond Rendon
The debaters absolutely killed it! 6 debate cards is the most Mitty has ever received at a single Super Debate tournament; extremely well done.
On Sunday, IE 2 proved to be another record breaking tournament for MSD. Congratulations to the following 31 students who received wild cards in their individual events:
HI: Conor Sherry (3), Maddie Davis (4)
DI: Conor Sherry (1), Olivia Monroy (2), Amelia Whitney (4), Kassidy Jordan (7)
Duo: Lucas Kernan/ Piper Lewis (1), Pranavi Javangula/ Esha Bhatia (2), Nick Maranowski/ Sameer Keswani (5), Naman Dandia/ Jake Ledger (6)
TI: Eshan Nandwani (5), Madurya Suresh (7)
OI: Alexis Toney (3)
OPP: Arjun Biju (1), Cailey Larmore (2), Pranavi Javangula (4), Fiona Pestana (6), Ciana Knight (7)
OO: Maddie Whalen (5)
Expos: Priya Ravi (2), Seher Randhawa (5), Katherine Phan (6)
OA: Darya Kaviani (2), Sanika Mauskar (7)
Imp: Rahul Ramakrishnan (4), Akaash Tawade (5)
IX: Koji Flynn-Do (1), Mukil Pari (4), Roksana Gorgolewski (7)
NX: Charlie Pyle (5), Rahul Devarapalli (7)
Most speech wild cards at a league tournament!
Congrats MSD on another successful weekend!
Last weekend, the Mitty Speech & Debate team competed at 26th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational at James Logan High School. The week leading up to the tournament was filled with nothing short of fantastic blitzes and potlucks, with food provided by all class periods!
Period 1 was first up for the week!
Period 8: Breakfast for Dinner. They strove for perfection and landed on EGGcellence!
On Friday, the tournament began! While the speech kids were at Mitty blitzing during their day off from school, the debaters rolled up to James Logan ready to compete in their first few preliminary rounds.
On Saturday, speech came in! Everyone started the day with time checks and pump up circles.
Cassie didn't seem to get the memo...
After competing in our first couple prelim rounds, the team decided to take a break to do something fun...Life Boat: MSD Style! It got a little hectic when Conor body checked a few people to get into groups, but hey, competing is what we do best!
Teams that play Life Boat together win together! (And yes, Liv is in fact a vampire).
After that really intense game, a few of us were feeling pretty tired and needed some rest before breaks to quarters came out...
Mr. Cruz joining 3/Super 6 for a quick nap
Everyone was fully energized by the time breaks came out though, because that evening, we advanced 45 entries to the quarterfinal round of competition in speech and 4 teams to the octofinal round of competition in debate! A successful MLK Saturday to say the least.
Our Policy, Public Forum, and Parli teams ready for an exciting MLK Sunday.
The following day, advancing speech kids arrived on campus ready to compete in their semifinal round. They started the day reflecting on why their piece is important.
Just before sending our competitors off into their semifinal round, alumni Ismail Shaik had a few words of advice to share with everyone...
While waiting for breaks to the final round, the students hung out with each other and had a bite to eat of some amazing food provided by our parents. A HUGE thank you to all our parents who spent the weekend judging and filling our Mitty tables with delicious food! We wouldn't be able to do what we love without you!
Breakfast essentials galore
Taco bell, pizzas, salad, wraps, sandwiches! YUM!
Now would be a good time to introduce some of our events competing at this tournament (debate was in the middle of killing their rounds during this time)! The team got pretty creative trying to come up with ways to represent their events.
Soon after, finals breaks came out. We had 10 speech entires advance to the final round, and we found out that both our Public Forum and Policy teams would be going into their quarterfinal round of competition in debate! Congrats!
Congrats to our finalists (missing Koji and Charlie; they were a little busy competing in the other event they advanced in!)
Supporting our 3 OPP finalists!!
After amazing final rounds, it came time for awards!
Thank you to James Logan High School for hosting a phenomenal tournament!
As a whole, our students killed the game! Let's take a look at how they did:
Co-champions, Policy Debate - Akaash Tawade/ Charlie Pyle
1st place, Public Forum Debate - Koji Flynn-Do/ Jolie Leung
1st place, Duo Interpretation - Max Slade/ Olivia Monroy
1st place, Original Prose & Poetry - Arjun Biju
1st place, Humorous Interpretation - Arjun Biju
2nd place, Original Advocacy - Darya Kaviani
3rd place, Original Prose & Poetry - Pranavi Javangula
4th place, Impromptu - Koji Flynn-Do
4th place, National Extemporaneous - Charlie Pyle
5th place, Original Prose & Poetry - Cassie Korb
6th place, Thematic Interpretation - Nkem Nnam
7th place, Oratorical Interpretation - Anna Krause
In addition, 21 quarterfinalists (Piper Lewis, Shanaya Sales, Amelia Whitney, Giuliano Orsi, Caity Redfern, Sameer Keswani/ Nick Maranowski, Emma Skeet, Elizabeth Mau, Nava Tamjidi, Draigh Ricketson, Cailey Larmore, Jolie Leung, Keili Fitzgerald, Vedant Vamshidhar, Kritika Yerrapotu, Madelyn Whalen, Akaash Tawade, Mukil Pari, Siddhant Gannu, Ammar Syed, and Siddhant Gannu), 9 semifinalists (Riya Dhoopar, Olivia Monroy, Esha Bhatia/ Pranavi Javangula, Piper Lewis, Anna Wymbs, Sanika Mauskar, Akaash Tawade, Roshni Varma, Rahul Ramakrishnan, Eshan Gupta) and 3 debate octofinalists (Ana Gonzalvez/ Mayank Killedar Vardhaan Ambati/ Prahlad Anand, Varun Joshi/ Nabeel Shaikh).
Just before announcing the winner of the Large School sweepstakes award, Mr. Tommie Lindsey eloquently expressed the importance of the Martin Luther King Jr. tournament, reminding us to continue using our voices for good .
As the top 5 schools for sweepstakes were being announced, Mitty students gripped each other's hands in anticipation of taking home our second 1st place MLK plaque. Long story short, Mitty was announced as 2nd place to Bellarmine, but after a recount of the points later that night, we found out that the official results showed that we won! A huge congratulations to our students, parents, and coaches on this wonderful victory. The amount of support and love that spread throughout the weekend is what everyone should be most proud of. Thank you everyone, and good luck for the upcoming semester!
One big happy Pham
1 MSD DAY
1 Team Waltz
1 Blitzgiving
1 Scavenger Hunt
3 Instagram Accounts
3 Photo Booths
4 Life Lesson Lunches
5 Alumni Visits
10 Tournaments
15 Blitzes
30 Wildcards
100% ALL IN, Happy Holidays Everyone!
This past weekend, the Mitty Speech and Debate team kicked off their 2016-2017 season with a trip to Long Beach to compete at the nationally recognized Jack Howe Memorial Invitational. 34 students geared up for the earliest tournament we've ever competed in! After 2 weeks of straight blitzing, the students came together for dinner, skits, and reflections.
The students enjoyed sandwiches from Ike's, a team favorite!
Super Six shared some advice with their teammates leading up to the competition.
Off to SoCal! With plenty of snacks and 8 hours to go, the students spent the bus ride playing games, finishing up their cases and pieces, and getting some well-deserved rest before their first round the following morning.
Right after school, the team sent off the Long Beach competitors with plenty of hugs. Everyone piled on the bus and was ready to go!
Stopped at In N' Out for dinner, another team favorite.
Day 1: The debate squad rolled out for their early morning round at 7:30, while the speech kids stayed back at the hotel to do time checks (and their hair). Speech joined debate on campus at noon, but of course, had to stop for a quick photoshoot!
After a full day of prelim rounds, the students went back to the hotel, exhausted but extremely ready for another day of competition. The wait for breaks began! 14 of our 17 speech students advanced to the semifinal round (top 12). We’re extremely proud of all our students for going all in with this opportunity, whether or not they advanced.
Pump up circle!
Day 2: Debate finished off their preliminary rounds on Sunday morning and anxiously awaited breaks. Congratulations to all our Public Forum teams for advancing to double-octos! As for speech, all 14 students who advanced to semis also advanced to finals (top 6). Amazing job, everyone!
All 3 of our duos lookin' spiffy after competing in the final round!
Policy and LD reflecting and enjoying each other's company. They had amazing learning experiences, and the kids all agreed that they enjoyed the tough rounds they lost in more than the easy rounds where they won
And finally, what you've all been waiting for: results! Congratulations to the following students who were recognized at the awards ceremony:
HI - Pranavi (2nd)
OPP - Cassie (3rd)
OA - Riya (5th), Darya (3rd), Siddhant (2nd)
Imp - Conor (4th), Siddhant (3rd)
TI - Colin (2nd)
OO - Cassie (5th), Fiona (1st)
Duo - Paige / Arjun (5th), Max / Liv (2nd), Conor / Amelia (1st)
DI - Erica (1st)
Public Forum - Koji and Jolie placed 2nd out of 94 teams, earning a bid to the Tournament of Champions.
Vardhaan was awarded 7th best speaker.
Rahul and Roshni made it to the Quarterfinal round.
As a team, we killed it! Mitty placed 2nd out of 92 schools in both Individual Events Sweepstakes and Overall Sweepstakes. To accomplish this with only 34 kids was absolutely outstanding, and everyone had an amazing time doing it. Congratulations everyone! Special thanks to alumni Nini Bhat, Anika Gidwani, Robbie Gallaher, and CP for supporting our team and judging rounds. Also a huge thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis for chaperoning and judging throughout the weekend–we couldn’t have it without you!
This was a great start to the upcoming season, and we can’t wait for more!
After capturing the California State Championship in April, the Mitty Speech and Debate team travelled to Salt Lake City for the 2016 National Tournament. Let’s take a look at their journey…
Nationals Squad outside of the Salt Palace.
After graduation, competitors met several days a week to cut new scripts, block performances, and deliver practice speeches. Blitzes concluded on the Thursday before the tournament with a Thai-themed team dinner (Try saying that 10 times fast!). Thanks to our amazing support squad for the delicious food and lovely care packages!
Competitors met at the Oakland Airport on Saturday afternoon for their flight to Salt Lake City. Upon landing in Utah, the team checked into their hotel and made a late run to the grocery store for some food.
The next day, the team drove into Downtown Salt Lake City for tournament registration and lunch before heading back to the hotel to practice for their upcoming rounds.
Monday brought the first four rounds of preliminary competition. All of our performers infused their speeches with passion, poise, and personality!
Speech and Congress ready to compete!
Tuesday saw the first elimination rounds. Congratulations to following students, who in a field of approximately 250 talented competitors, placed in the top 60 of their events:
The sun shone brightly on the Mitty team...
In Dramatic Interpretation: Samuel Mesfin and Jocelyn Woods
In Duo Interpretation: Olivia Monroy and Amelia Whitney
In Informative: Bharathi Arasan and Seher Randhawa
In Program Oral Interpretation: Nini Bhat
In Congressional Debate: Pranav Govindaraju, Ismail Shaik, and Akaash Tawade
In Public Forum Debate: Koji Flynn-Do and Jolie Leung
In World Schools Debate: Jonathan Pham
On Wednesday, the competition was extremely stiff. The following students placed in the top 30 of their events:
Our beautiful speech competitors with an entrancing backdrop at Brighton High School.
In Dramatic Interpretation: Samuel Mesfin
In Informative: Bharathi Arasan and Seher Randhawa
In Program Oral Interpretation: Nini Bhat
In Congressional Debate: Ismail Shaik
After the quarterfinal round of competition in speech, the following students were advanced to the semifinal round of competition, placing in the top 14 students of their respective events:
Our two speech semifinalists - Sam and Bharathi!
In Dramatic Interpretation: Samuel Mesfin
In Informative: Bharathi Arasan
Both Bharathi and Sam gave stellar performances, and we are so incredibly proud of all of the hard work and dedication that they have poured into their pieces. However, after a tense postings assembly, Archbishop Mitty emerged with its sole speech finalist: Bharathi Arasan, in Informative!
Later that night, the team surprised their two finalists, Bharathi and Ismail, with words of love and encouragement before their final rounds.
Our two national finalists - Ismail and Bharathi :^)
While Bharathi was at a sound and light check on Thursday morning, Ismail was busy competing in his final round. He performed spectacularly as the team watched the livestreamed event from the hotel.
Ismail looking dapper at the post-final round banquet.
The team joined hundreds of other students from across the United States in watching the final round of the interpretation events on Thursday evening. Our head coach, Mrs. Cruz, was also presented with her First Diamond, an award recognizing her dedication to coaching speech and debate.
MSD watching the final rounds of POI, HI, DI, and Duo!
On Friday morning, our speech finalist was greeted with a surprise - Bharathi’s mom had flown out to Salt Lake City to watch her perform on the national stage! And boy, did Bharathi perform! Speaking third, she brought poise, confidence, and jokes for days! We couldn’t be prouder.
Before Bharathi took the stage.
At the awards ceremony, Archbishop Mitty was recognized with the highest honor a school can receive - the School of Outstanding Distinction Award, meaning that Archbishop Mitty Speech & Debate is one of the top 10 programs in the nation. With over 5,500 students representing thousands of schools at the National Tournament, this achievement was nothing short of incredible. Furthermore, Archbishop Mitty was one of just two school from California to receive the award, and THE ONLY school from the state to earn the recognition for a second consecutive year. The full results from the tournament are below:
Dramatic Interpretation:
11th - Samuel Mesfin
Octofinalist (Top 60) - Jocelyn Woods
Duo Interpretation:
Octofinalists (Top 60) - Olivia Monroy & Amelia Whitney
Informative:
5th - Bharathi Arasan
Quarterfinalist (Top 30) - Seher Randhawa
Program Oral Interpretation:
Quarterfinalist (Top 30) - Nini Bhat
Congressional Debate:
13th - Ismail Shaik
Semifinalist (Top 60) - Pranav Govindaraju
Semifinalist (Top 60) - Akaash Tawade
Public Forum Debate:
Top 100 - Koji Flynn-Do & Jolie Leung
World Schools Debate:
Octofinalist (Top 16) - Jonathan Pham
A successful tournament behind them, the team caught an early morning flight back to San Jose, where they were greeted by their loving family and friends. What a way to end the week! A big “thank you” to everyone who came to welcome us home - your love and support means the world to us.
And what a year it has been! Thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout this incredibly rewarding experience, especially our friends, families, teammates, teachers, coaches, and the Mitty administration - we look forward to improving upon our accomplishments next year. Even more so, however, we look forward to continue developing meaningful relationships and learning the life lessons that this activity has to offer.
Top 10, baby!
After an eventful qualifying season, the Monarchs were ready to tackle their next challenge - the 2016 CHSSA State Tournament. With 32 competitors - the most in the Coast Forensics League and the most in MSD history - the team was poised for success. Let’s take a look at their journey…
The biggest contingent from the CFL ready to tackle the state tournament!
A few weeks before the competition, students met with Mr. and Mrs. Cruz for a motivational discussion on the significance of the state championship and the potential of the team to make history. (Spoiler Alert: We made history.)
The smiles started before state...
During the weeks leading up to the championship, the team practiced almost daily, both in class and after school at blitzes. Dinner themes including “In it to Win it Indian” and “State Sandwiches” helped set the tone for practices that were both focused and fun.
Duo partners Lucas Kernan and Piper Lucas having too much fun? :^)
The weekend before the state tournament brought the inaugural MSD Madness, during which competitors enjoyed an afternoon full of games and team bonding. Afterward, the qualifiers joined their parents for a potluck and game night. A big “thank you” to the Arasan family for hosting the event - it was a great opportunity for parents and students to socialize, engage in friendly competition, and laugh together.
As MSD tradition would have it, competitors gathered to share a meal on the evening prior to the tournament. The burgers and fries were delicious, but the real treat was what came after dinner - senior speeches. These personal reflections from the leaders of the team left us feeling energized for the big day ahead.
Hugs for senior team member Samuel Mesfin.
On the morning of the tournament, the boys met at Bill’s Cafe for breakfast while the girls convened at the house of Team President Nini Bhat to get their hair and makeup done. A huge thanks to the Bhat family for letting us use their home, and to fellow Monarch Emma Chew for volunteering to help the girls with their makeup!
Boys' breakfast at Bill's before the big day!
After taking some fierce team photos, the team headed off to Mission College for the first rounds of the tournament.
"Teams that dab together, win together." - Mr. Cruz
One of the biggest perks of competing so close to home is the amazing support of our teammates, friends, and family. Team members came to Mission College to watch rounds, and our incredible parents provided food throughout the tournament. Mitty staff members also dropped by and were treated to some MSD performances!
The preliminary rounds of competition concluded on Saturday afternoon. Later that evening, the team gathered in Mr. and Mrs. Cruz’s hotel room to announce who had advanced to the semifinal round of competition. It was an intense and emotional night, but the results were undoubtedly spectacular:
Team members anxiously hold their breath as breaks are announced.
Semifinalists in Dramatic Interpretation: Kai Hynes, Erica Johnson, and Samuel Mesfin
Semifinalists in Duo Interpretation: Paige Decena and Max Slade
Semifinalist in Expository: Seher Randhawa
Semifinalists in Humorous Interpretation: Rose Bueno, Olivia Monroy, and Conor Sherry
Semifinalist in Impromptu: Amulya Yerrapotu
Semifinalists in International Extemporaneous: Robbie Gallaher and Ismail Shaik
Semifinalists in National Extemporaneous: Koji Flynn-Do and Charlie Pyle
Semifinalist in Oratorical Interpretation: Esha Bhatia
Semifinalists in Original Advocacy: Bharathi Arasan and Pranav Govindaraju
Semifinalists in Original Prose and Poetry: Arjun Biju and Pranavi Javangula
Semifinalists in Thematic Interpretation: Colin Anderson, Nini Bhat, Madelyn Davis, Amelia Whitney, and Jocelyn Woods
Semifinalists in Congressional Debate: Siddhant Gannu and Akaash Tawade
Advancing to Round 5 of Parliamentary Debate: Chiara Caraccio and Vivek Thangam
Advancing to Round 7 of Policy Debate: Pranav Govindaraju and Ismail Shaik
After a difficult semifinal round the next morning, the team once again convened to find out who had advanced to the final round of the tournament. Congratulations to your 2016 finalists, all of whom are recognized as the top competitors in the state of California:
Anxiously awaiting finals breaks...
Finalists in Dramatic Interpretation: Kai Hynes and Samuel Mesfin
Finalists in Duo Interpretation: Paige Decena and Max Slade
Finalists in Humorous Interpretation: Olivia Monroy and Conor Sherry
Finalists in International Extemporaneous: Robbie Gallaher and Ismail Shaik
Finalist in National Extemporaneous: Charlie Pyle
Finalist in Original Advocacy: Bharathi Arasan
Finalists in Original Prose and Poetry: Arjun Biju and Pranavi Javangula
Finalists in Thematic Interpretation: Nini Bhat and Amelia Whitney
Finalist in Congressional Debate: Siddhant Gannu
Finalists in Parliamentary Debate: Chiara Caraccio and Vivek Thangam
All of our finalists gave incredible performances, bringing passion and energy into each moment of their speeches. Then came the awards ceremony, perhaps the most exhilarating part of the entire weekend. Congratulations to all of our competitors, especially those who were commended for their performances. The full results…
Dramatic Interpretation:
4th place - Samuel Mesfin
7th place - Kai Hynes
8th place - Erica Johnson
Duo Interpretation:
5th place - Paige Decena & Max Slade
Expository:
13th place - Seher Randhawa
Humorous Interpretation:
1st place - Conor Sherry
5th place - Olivia Monroy
12th place - Rose Bueno
Impromptu:
10th place - Amulya Yerrapotu
International Extemporaneous:
5th place - Robbie Gallaher
7th place - Ismail Shaik
National Extemporaneous:
3rd place - Charlie Pyle
11th place - Koji Flynn-Do
Oratorical Interpretation:
8th place - Esha Bhatia
Original Advocacy:
3rd place - Bharathi Arasan
14th place - Pranav Govindaraju
Original Prose and Poetry:
2nd place - Arjun Biju
4th place - Pranavi Javangula
Thematic Interpretation:
1st place - Amelia Whitney
2nd place - Nini Bhat
9th place - Colin Anderson
12th place - Madelyn Davis
14th place - Jocelyn Woods
Congressional Debate:
12th place - Siddhant Gannu
Semifinalist - Akaash Tawade
Parliamentary Debate:
2nd place - Chiara Caraccio & Vivek Thangam
Policy Debate:
Quarterfinalists - Pranav Govindaraju & Ismail Shaik
Team Sweepstakes:
1st place - Archbishop Mitty
At the end of the night, MSD emerged with its FIRST EVER state champions - freshman Conor Sherry in Humorous Interpretation and sophomore Amelia Whitney in Thematic Interpretation! In addition, Archbishop Mitty was recognized as THE TOP speech and debate school in California. What we had been working for the entire year was no longer just a dream - we were state champions.
Hugs all around to celebrate!
The Fab Five and coaches beaming with joy and pride.
The team celebrated their success with a trip to Dave and Buster’s for a few hours of food, games, dancing, and team bonding.
Tired but still turnt after a long weekend!
What a weekend! Thank you to all of those who have supported us throughout this incredible experience - our friends, family, teachers, teammates, coaches, and the Mitty administration. We couldn’t have done it without your love, support, and guidance.
The Mitty Speech and Debate Team had an amazing State and National Qualifications season over the past month. Let’s start with a recap of our very first State Quals tournament of the year: Public Forum and Parliamentary Debate!
Our debaters kicked off a busy weekend and started off our qualifications season after school at Leland High School on Friday, February 26th.
Some of the speech kids stopped by to send the debaters off!
Partners Akaash Tawade and Jonathan Pham share a moment of laughter.
Partners Ismail Shaik and Pranav Govindaraju share a moment of anti-social phone using. Kids these days.....
But of course, we couldn't start without a classic team circle!
After an incredibly tough two days of competition, we advanced 6 out of our 16 teams to the elimination rounds (after going 4-1 in prelims)-- the most breaks out of all the schools and a record made for Mitty Debate! We also had ever our first Public Forum breaks (3 out of 7 teams broke-- the most breaks out of all schools and another record for Mitty Debate!). Congratulations to Roshni/Rahul, Jahnavi/Dittu, and Amulya/Robbie for breaking to the first elimination round of Public Forum, and to Koji/Charlie for breaking to the first elimination round of Parliamentary Debate. After the first round, we had 2 teams still in, both in Parli— Jonathan/Akaash and Chiara/Vivek.
We lowkey ended up missing awards because we were too busy circling up again....
...but it was worth it for the life lessons we learned and shared with one another.
t the end of the day, missed awards ceremony aside, we ended the night with our first qualifiers to the 2016 state tournament: Chiara Caraccio and Vivek Thangam in Parliamentary Debate! Congratulations everyone!
Next up: Speech State Quals! The very next morning, the speech squad trickled in to Milpitas High School ready to make Mitty Speech and Debate history. And that, they did.
The speech competitors got together for a big pep talk before going into their first round!
As Mr. Cruz eloquently put it, “Teams that dab together, win together.”
The time soon came for breaks to semifinals! It was definitely a nerve wracking experience for everyone, and we’re very happy for our 51 students who advanced to the next round!
Live reaction seeing our teammates break to semis! So many hugs and so much love!
Trophies all lined up and ready for awards
After a tough semifinal round, it was time for the most stressful, exhilarating, wonderful awards ceremony of the year. Event by event, semi-finalists were called up to the stage and Mrs. Cruz counted down the alternates, and then the qualifiers as everyone else watched from the audience, rapt with attention.
At the end of the day, the squad finished strong. Mitty had the most IE State Qualifiers in the Coast Forensic League: 29 students! Absolutely amazing! Congratulations to the following 2016 IE State Qualifiers:
Dramatic Interpretation: Sam Mesfin (also won the tournament), Erica Johnson, and Kai Hynes.
Duo Interpretation: Paige / Max and Lucas / Piper.
Expository Speaking: Seher Randhawa.
Humorous Interpretation: Olivia Monroy, Conor Sherry, Klara Barbarossa, and Rose Bueno.
Impromptu: Amulya Yerrapotu.
International Extemp: Robin Gallaher, Jonathan Pham, and Ismail Shaik.
National Extemp: Charles Pyles and Koji Flynn-Do.
Oratorical Interpretation: Esha Bhatia.
Original Advocacy: Bharathi Arasan and Pranav Govindaraju.
Original Prose and Poetry: Arjun Biju and Pranavi Javangula.
Thematic Interpretation: Amelia Whitney, Colin Anderson, Jocelyn Woods, Niharika Bhat, and Madelyn Davis.
Next: Policy/LD State Quals! The following weekend, the monarchs brought their A game yet again to Santa Clara University ready to capture some more spots at State. After a busy first day, the debaters kicked off Friday night with some good food and good company. What they put IN is what they’ll get OUT on Saturday!
Animal fries for our policy BEASTS!
S/o to Culture Committee Chairs for helping distribute food to our judges! This activity would not be possible without our student volunteers and judges.
The next day, four of our policy teams and our one LDer made it to the final round. Congratulations to Jahnavi/Dittu, Pranav/Ismail, Rahul/Teja, Amulya/Robbie, and Jonathan Pham! After an incredibly difficult final round, congrats to Pranav and Ismail and Amulya and Robbie for qualifying to State in Policy Debate!
But the fight wasn't over just yet! That Sunday, our last but definitely not least State Quals took place at Leland High School: Congress! With their very last opportunity to qualify to State, our Congress kids went all in! Congratulations to Jahnavi and Jolie for becoming alternates and a special congratulations to Akaash and Siddhant for qualifying to State in Congress!
Our State Quals season may have come to end, but the Monarchs are nowhere near done! With 32 students competing at the State Tournament in just a week, Mitty we are incredibly happy for our team and all our qualifiers, and we can’t wait for the monarchs to BRING IT at State.
Just a couple weeks after our amazing State Qualifying season was over, the MSD Monarchs geared up again for the first National Qualifications tournament of the year. After qualifying 12 students to Nationals last year, would we be able to send even more people to the National Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah, this year?! Let’s find out...
Our Policy and Public Forum debaters kicked off the weekend of competition at Bellarmine College Preparatory, starting Friday, March 18th, after school. On Saturday morning, the speech kids joined the party.
Just a casual photo shoot between rounds...
In debate, congrats to Ismail Shaik/ Pranav Govindaraju and Robbie Gallaher/Amulya Yerrapotu for advancing to the second day in Policy Debate, and a special congratulations to Rahul Devarapalli & Teja Veeramacheni for advancing to the final round in Policy Debate! In Public Forum, congrats to Jahnavi Singh/Aditya Gunda for advancing to the second day in Public Forum and a special congratulations to Koji Flynn-Do/Jolie Leung for advancing to the final round in Public Forum!
On the speech side of things, after the first day, every speech competitor advanced to the semifinal round in at least one of their events! A special congratulations to the students advancing to the final round in their respective events: Samuel Mesfin, Jocelyn Woods, and Paige Decena in DI; Pranavi Javangula, Arjun Biju, and Rose Bueno in HI; Amelia Whitney and Nini Bhat in POI; Amelia Whitney / Olivia Monroy in Duo, Bharathi Arasan & Seher Randhawa in Expos, Pranav Govindaraju in NX, and Robbie Gallaher in IX!
Everyone went ALL IN on their final rounds, and then came the long-anticipated awards ceremony...
Congratulations to our 11 students who will be competing at the National Tournament in June!
Sophomore qualifiers, Jolie Leung (Public Forum Debate), Olivia Monroy (Duo Interp), and Amelia Whitney, who placed first in Program Oral Interp and qualified in two events!
Juniors Koji Flynn-Do (Public Forum Debate), Arjun Biju (Humorous Interp), and Seher Randhawa (Informative Speaking) also qualified to the National Championships, with the latter two winning their respective events.
Lastly, congratulations to our senior qualifiers - Rose Bueno (Humorous Interp), Bharathi Arasan (Informative Speaking), Niharika Bhat (Program Oral Interp), Jocelyn Woods (Dramatic Interp), and Samuel Mesfin, who placed first in Dramatic Interp!
Special congratulations to Koji and Jolie for being Mitty Speech and Debate's FIRST EVER National Qualifiers in Public Forum!
Fab Five and Coaches!
Nat Quals squad after an incredibly successful tournament!
After a great first National Qualifications tournament, we had just one more Qualifications tournament to go. Two weekends later came our final Nat Quals of 2016: Congress!
Suits, ties, prep-- check!
Mitty slayed the game, taking 3 out of the 4 available spots at the National Qualification Tournament in Congressional Debate! Congrats to Akaash, Ismail, and Pranav for qualifying to Nationals. The Monarchs also won the sweepstakes award in Congress!
Mitty qualified 14 students to the National Tournament so far (not including World's Debate-- keep an eye out for that!), which is a record for the Mitty Speech and Debate Team!
As our qualifications season has come to an end, we are so proud of everyone for making it such a memorable and exciting experience for our team. We are very grateful for everyone--parents, teammates, and administration, who have been so supportive of us as our team grows to reach new heights! The qualifying season may be over, but State is just around the corner. Who's ready to add another team record to our roster?
State 2016...here we come. This is not when we hide, it's when we ROAR!
The Mitty Speech and Debate Team spent Valentine's Day weekend doing what they love most: competing! 27 students spent the weekend at UC Berkeley for the highly competitive and prestigious Cal Invitational. We started the week off on Friday with an all day blitz.
And enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Hong's Cafe.
With a special appearance from Akaa$h-money!
The Sophomores, however, stole the show with their adorable group walk. Ladies in Formation!
After spending the rest of the day working, the team kicked back with sundaes, Iguanas, and underclassmen speeches.
The boys in room Dabbin' Debaters decided to spilt a massive Burritozilla.
Sophomore Jolie Leung explains how this team has shaped her so far in her underclassmen speech.
Then, after a good night's sleep, it was time for competition!
....after enjoying some delicious Berkeley food of course.
Students competing in Congressional debate headed off for their first round, while speech competitors went back to the hotel to change.
Congress heading out to compete!
Then came day two:
Before everyone headed into their 3rd and final prelim round, we decided to spend some time for a photoshoot.
It's definitely time to introduce you to the rooms of MSD Berkeley— each room had 3-4 students and an awesome name:
The CALifornia Girls: Bharathi Arasan, Cassie Korb, Maddie Whalen, Jahnvi Singh
Parli God Squad: Arjun Biju, Pranav Govindaraju, Ismail Shaik, Lucas Kernan
The Holy Trinity: Paige Decena, Margo Salah, Jocelyn Woods
Connect 4 (the only room with 1 person from each of the four class periods): Amulya Yerrapotu, Pranavi Javangula, Seher Randhawa, Jolie Leung
The Dabbin' Debaters: Charlie Pyle, Robbie Gallaher, Dittu Gunda, Sam Mesfin
The Herbal Witches: Nini Bhat, Liv Monroy, Amelia Whitney, Piper Lewis
The Rogue S-Quad-ron: Siddhant Gannu, Jonathan Pham, Akaash Tawade, Koji Flynn-do
After a prelim round, it was time for breaks.... or at least the wait for breaks. In other words: dinner and a nap!
s/out to MSD Alum Mihir Chitalia for dropping by to say hello and judge!
A team that competes together naps together.
Dinner @ Cancun! ft. a confused looking Mr. Cruz
We ended up advancing 8/10 competitors in Congress to semifinals (the most of any school) and 13 additional speech entries for a total of 23 breaks. After Octofinals, the team headed back to the hotel and stayed up waiting to find out who advanced to the Quarterfinal round of competition.
Phones in a pile off to the side so no one found out early...
...Mrs. Cruz slowly listed off breaks, thoroughly messing with our heads in the process.
In the end, everyone who broke to Octofinals advanced to Quarterfinals in at least one of their events! We were all up bright and early the next morning for the next round. The day wore on, and slowly but surely, it came time for breaks to the final round.
But first, we had a team circle to debrief semi-final rounds.
s/out to Vardhaan and Prahlad for dropping in to support their teammates.
And then— Mr. and Mrs. Cruz announced breaks. In the most drawn out way possible, of course. Our reaction? See for yourself:
Before we knew it, final rounds finished up and it was time for awards. Here's the summary:
1 Octofinalists: Robbie in Impromptu
5 Quarterfinalists: Amulya in Impromptu, Robbie in Extemp, Jocelyn in DI, Liv in HI, and Piper in DI
11 Semifinalists: Ismail in Congress, Dittu in Congress, Akaash in Congress, Koji in Congress, Charlie in Congress, Siddhant in Congress, Jolie in Congress, Bharathi in Expos, Amulya in Extemp, Liv and Amelia in Duo, and Lucas in HI
AND 6 Finalists! Congratulations to Pranav for placing 9th in Congress, Seher for placing 5th in Expos, Sam for placing 4th in DI, Nini for placing 3rd in TI, Amelia for placing 2nd in TI, and Lucas and Piper for placing 2nd in Duo!
Congratulations to everyone for an incredible weekend!
This past weekend the Mitty Speech & Debate team competed at the 25th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational Tournament at James Logan High School in Union City. The Tournament started out after school on Thursday and Friday with five preliminary debate rounds. Then on Saturday, Speech joined the party as well!
That day, we advanced 31 competitors to the quarterfinal round of competition in speech, 6 competitors to the Double Octofinal round of competition in debate, and 16 competitors to the Octofinal round of debate! There were hugs for everyone:
Well, everyone except for Sam....
For inspiration before our final rounds of the day, we decided to take a field trip to the legendary room 408, home of James Logan High School's Speech and Debate program and the place where our coaches first fell in love with the activity.
The highlight, however, was clearly this picture of Mr. Cruz performing his Humorous Interpretation.
The debaters who advanced past their Octofinal rounds— Pranav and Ismail in Public Forum, and Teja and Rahul in Policy— arrived early the next morning accompanied by teammates to cheer them on.
Advancing speech kids trickled in soon after for their Semifinal rounds!
Then came the wait for breaks...
But the wait was well worth it— we advanced 9 entries to final rounds, including Freshmen Emma Skeet and Connor Sherry! Cue freakout:
Despite advancing to finals in speech, Pranav and Ismail were not pictured above as they were too busy advancing to finals in another event— Public Forum. (Side note: they are also our first ever Public Forum team to win a bid to the Tournament of Champions)
Several hard fought final rounds later, it was time for awards!
First, Scott Wunn, President of the National Speech and Debate Association, helped honor Dr. Tommie Lindsey, the legendary coach of the James Logan program and the man who made all of this possible— not just by running the MLK Invitational, but also by coaching our coaches and inspiring them to go on and try to make a difference in the lives of students as well. Then came awards:
So let's recap:
1st place, Triathlete Award – Pranav Govindaraju
1st place, Public Forum Debate – Govindaraju & Shaik
Semifinalists, Policy Debate – Devarapalli & Veeramacheneni
1st place, Impromptu – Pranav Govindaraju
1st place, International Extemporaneous – Ismail Shaik
1st place, National Extemporaneous – Pranav Govindaraju
1st place, Original Prose & Poetry – Arjun Biju
2nd place, Impromptu – Amulya Yerrapotu
2nd place, Oratorical Interpretation – Emma Skeet
6th place, Oratorical Interpretation – Rhea Esha Bhatia
6th place, Original Prose & Poetry – Cassandra Korb
7th place, Impromptu – Conor Sherry
7th place, National Extemporaneous – Amulya Yerrapotu
Not to mention: 12 Quarterfinalists in Speech (Caitlyn Redfern, Koji Flynn-Do, Robin Gallaher, Akaash Tawade (twice!), Cassandra Korb, Riya Dhoopar, Madelyn Whalen, Aneri Bhatt, Jasmine Ho, Colin Anderson, Jocelyn Woods), 10 Semifinalists in Speech (Lewis & Kernan, Bharathi Arasan, Siddhant Gannu, Jonathan Pham, Rose Bueno, Bharathi Arasan, Pranavi Javangula, Samuel Mesfin, Amelia Whitney), 7 Octofinalist teams in debate (Shree Mukilan Pari, Vivek Thangam, Flynn-Do & Pyle, Gupta & Vobbilisetty, Leung & Pedada, Gallaher & Yerrapotu, Singh & Varma), and 3 Double Octofinalist teams in debate (Ahluwalia & Oliveira, Ambati & Anand, Ghoshal & Syed).
And yes, you did see that right. Pranav took home 4 first place medals.
What did all this add up to? Well, see for yourself:
The Monarchs brought home their first ever 1st place team finish in an overall large school sweepstakes, out of 66 schools! Congratulations everyone for an incredible weekend!
We've had a Wonderful Semester: Let's Review!
we've competed in 11 tournaments and In Debate we've had...
2 Double-Octofinalists,
13 Octofinalists,
9 Quarterfinalists,
10 Finalists in Congressional Debate,
9 Top 10 Speaker Awards,
And 25 Tournament Champions!
Novice: Aditi Chatradhi (Public Forum), Sanika Mauskar (Public Forum), Shriya Nandwani (Public Forum), Varun Joshi (Public Forum), Jessica Oliveira (Public Forum), Alexis Toney (Public Forum), Ammar Syed (Public Forum), and Roshni Varma (Public Forum), Anvee Bhutani (Lincoln-Douglas), Ahnay Ramesh (Lincoln-Douglas), Jon Telebrico (Lincoln-Douglas), Renee Radusewicz (Policy), Avani Mylvara (Policy), Aayush Sutaria (Policy), Anish Patel (Policy), Darya Kaviani (Speaker in Policy)
Varsity: Pranav Govindaraju (Parliamentary), Akaash Tawade (Parliamentary), Jonathan Pham (Congressional), Roshni Varma (Public Forum), Rahul Ramakrishnan (Public Forum), Teja Veeramacheneni (Public Forum), Rahul Devarapalli (Public Forum), Vardhaan Ambati (Public Forum), Prahlad Anand (Public Forum)
In Speech we've had...
44 Semifinalists,
49 finalists,
And 10 Tournament Champions!
Varsity: Bharathi Arasan (Expository Speaking) , Arjun Biju (Humorous Interpretation, Original Prose and Poetry), Pranav Govindaraju (National Extemporaneous Speaking), Margo Salah (Dramatic Interpretation)
Novice: Aastha Khare (Original Oratory), Emma Skeet (Oratorical Interpretation), Aayush Sutaria (International Extemporaneous Speaking), Caitlyn Redfern (Dramatic Interpretation), Eshan Gupta (National Extemporaneous Speaking)
And as a Team we’ve had…
1 Welcome Potluck,
2 Sweepstakes Awards,
7 Team Blitzes,
1 Team Scavenger Hunt,
1 Blitzgiving,
And our first ever Alumni Reunion!
Complete with pizza and cupcake making!
We'd like to thank everyone who supports our team. None of this would have been possible without the continued support of our teachers, administration and parents who make our program possible. We look forward to another semester of competition, team bonding, and life lessons.
To the Empire!
Congratulations to our speech and debate team for earning the highest sweepstakes award possible, "school of outstanding distinction." This award is given to the top 10 schools in the nation, out of almost 1000 competing, who accumulated the most combined speech and debate points at the National tournament.
Welcomed home by friends, teammates, and family.
Congratulations Pranav Govindaraju for placing top 30 in the nation!
Congratulations Anne and Will!
