Maranatha Wins at SCDL Spring Varsity Speech Tournament

On Saturday, February 3, the Maranatha Speech Team competed in the annual Southern California Debate League Spring Varsity Speech Tournament at Arcadia High School.
Maranatha featured 24 speakers in five different categories. Senior Jordan Belcher was a semi-finalist in the Impromptu category and finished 14th in a category featuring 98 competitors from various high schools in the San Gabriel Valley. Junior Leila Karimi was a semi-finalist in International Extemporaneous Speech, a category that presents students with three political questions and allows them 30 minutes to prepare an answer to one question and then present a speech for seven minutes without notes.  

At the end of the day, Maranatha placed two seniors in the finals in their respective categories. Senior Rebekah Wells placed 4th in Dramatic Interpretation of Rosa Parks and senior Trinity Moore placed 1st overall with her Oratorical Interpretation Speech. Freshman Jessica Tilney competed in the Platform category and earned 1st place for her speech on technology. The tournament features 60-100 competitors in each Varsity category with students from programs who are ranked in the top 100 in the nation.

Speech and Debate Coach Patrick Mesisca ‘92 says, “I am so proud of our Speech Team. As a school we are blessed to have gifted and creative students who work hard and pursue excellence. It is a thrill for me to see so many students achieve success at these highly competitive tournaments. Their success is a culmination of hours of research, writing, and practice that goes well beyond the time we spend preparing in the classroom during school hours.”

The next Speech Tournament is the Rotary Four Way Test Speech Competition Prelims that will be held at Pasadena Presbyterian Church on Wednesday and Thursday February 21-22 at 6:00 p.m.

If you are interested in Speech and Debate, Maranatha will be offering a non-competitive Speech and Debate course during summer school. Students will have the opportunity to learn public speaking and debate techniques that will help develop their critical thinking skills and public presentations in all of their courses at Maranatha.
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