After a strong performance at districts on March 11th and 12th, La Salle’s Speech and Debate team will have nine entries and one alternate at the upcoming O.S.A.A. State Speech and Debate Tournament on April 21-23, which will be held at Western Oregon University.

Joseph Krietzberg (11), William Larson (12), Myriam Yao (12), Winnie Gregory (11), Katie Quines (11), Anna Sandstorm (10), Eabha Fitzsimons (12), and Stella Tompkins (11) will all be representing La Salle in their respective categories next week.

Senior Myriam Yao, who will be competing in both Original Oratory and Expository, expresses confidence and excitement for the state tournament.

“I’ve done it for a while now, and have gone to state both years I have competed in it,” explains Yao in regards to the Original Oratory. “This year I also went to the national qualifier tournament, where I became alternate for nationals this year, and received a lot of good feedback for my speech.”

For Expository, however, it is a slightly different story.

“When I signed up for it for districts, I had never done it before, and expected to just skate through without major accomplishments,” Yao said. “Weirdly enough, I won, so now I have to revise it and remake my visual aids (posters) to make the whole thing state-worthy.”

Stella Tompkins, junior, will be competing in Radio Commentary, a five-minute original speech on a current news topic.

“[My speech] is about the agricultural effects of climate change and the recent climate change summit in Paris,” Tompkins said. “I also go into a little about how geography is going to affect subsistence farming as well as agribusiness.”

With high hopes to make an impression at state, Yao, Tompkins, and the other members of the team have been working hard in eager anticipation for the upcoming tournament.

“We are still having our regular practices with Mr. Doran, and we give each other feedback cards,” Tompkins said in regard to the nature of the practices leading up to state. “Right now it’s all about going back through ballots from all of this season’s tournaments and making as many improvements as possible.”

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Make sure to wish the members of the Speech and Debate team good luck as they head off to compete at state next week!