The MacArthur speech team competed at Godinez High School from 3:30 PM to 8:00 PM on Thursday, January 24.  This was the second organized competition of the year.  As a team, they placed fifth overall but did have an individual student receive a first-place finish. Seventh-grader Isabella Palacio took first place in her division.  

At the Speech and Debate competition, students delivered speeches from categories including public forum, congressional debate, impromptu speaking, informative, original oratory, storytelling, oratorical declamation, dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, duo interpretation, poetry interpretation, and prose interpretation. In total, there were 12 categories for the speech and debate tournament.

Forty students competed in the speech and debate tournament, many of whom were not enrolled in MacArthur’s speech class.  These students chose to dedicate their time at lunch and after school to prepare. They were able to compete as a team and win trophies for their performances.

There were over seven hundred people in attendance at the competition.  Every intermediate school in the Santa Ana Unified School District competed, and about 20 other out-of-district schools also participated.

“ALA (Advanced Learning Academy) was one of the hardest schools to face in the speech and debate tournament,” said Speech Teacher Ms. Sue Whitmire.  Since the Santa Ana Unified School District has organized the inter-school competitions, ALA has proven to be the most competitive school for MacArthur.

Seventh-grader Saul Orozco said, “The speech and debate tournament was very competitive and very fun to be able to talk in front of everyone.”

Whitmire encourages any students who have an interest in competing to join the speech class next year, or even participate in the club to help MacArthur continue improving in achievement.

For many of the participants, competing in the Speech and Debate team is a fun exploration.  Seventh-grader Chris Ramos said, “My speech was about fear of monsters, and the best thing about my speech was the different voices I had to master.”