Redmond High hosts inter-district debate tournament

Redmond High School’s debate team held its first inter-district tournament in the school’s history on Feb. 2-3. More than 20 schools from the western half of the state competed, including local rivals such as Eastside Catholic and Eastlake in addition to schools as far away as Bellingham and Canada.

Since this was the last state-qualifying tournament of the season, the Mustangs added some extra flair to the competition with special events such as Tall Tales, in which students compete to make the most intricate (and entertaining) fairy tales from a single word; Editorial Commentary, a newsreel simulation; and Spontaneous Argumentation (Spar), a purely impromptu debate event. Josh Lam and Owen Lyon-Smith, who wrote the topics for Spar and other events, soon had students speaking passionately on why orange juice is better than apple juice and how artificial house plants present a morally justifiable alternative to natural potted plants.

Other, more standard events included Lincoln-Douglas Debate (an event judged on the morality of a student’s case), Mock Congress (a simulation of U.S. Congress), Interpretive Reading (using published poems and short stories to present an idea), Dramatic Interpretation (acting out a published play) and Impromptu Speaking (making a six-minute speech from a single word or picture on the spot).

As for results, Redmond swept the top three places in Editorial Commentary, with Anushka Ladha taking first, David Dias taking second and Zainab Lughmani taking third. Trevor Christensen qualified for the state tournament in Interpretive Reading with a three-part exploration on talking like a pirate. Keenan Ganz took second in Original Oratory and Mock Congress, qualifying for state in both events. Ianna Zhu took second place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, the best performance Redmond has seen in the event all year and netting a state bid.

With the regular season now complete, the Mustangs look ahead to the state Individual Event and Debate tournaments in March and the Nationals Qualifier in late February. State qualifiers not mentioned above include Owen Lyon-Smith in Mock Congress, Extemporaneous and Impromptu Speaking; Marina Chen in Dramatic Interpretation; Sarah Raza in Impromptu Speaking and Interpretive Reading; Emily Savage in Impromptu Speaking; Lucy Jiang in Original Oratory; and the Public Forum Debate pair of Rishma Murugan and Khushi Chaudhari.