Clark High School’s Speech and Debate team took first place overall at the Panther Classic Tournament at Palo Verde High School. At the competition, the team earned more awards than in any other tournament this season.

Eight students placed in varsity speech events, and they are very excited about the momentum they are gaining as important end-of-season tournaments approach.

In Duo Interpretation, Katherine Van Voorhis and Meghana Veeramachaneni placed second. Alejandro Sigui placed fifth in Program Oral Interpretation, and Erin Keene placed second in Informative. In Foreign Extemp, Brock Walker placed second and Chanel Pulido placed sixth. Domestic Extemp was one of Clark’s best events, where Sophia Adams got second and Rishi Saran placed first.

“I had a lot of fun at the Palo Verde tournament, and I’m so proud of  Clark for placing first in the sweepstakes,” says sophomore and varsity speaker Colleen Keene.

The Speech and Debate team excelled in debate events, where nineteen students qualified for finals. In junior varsity Congress, Sara Ford placed third, Ryan Yi placed third, Ariana Revis placed fourth, and Aryman Bisen placed sixth. Suvrajyoti Rout was a quarter-finalist in junior varsity Lincoln Douglas, and in varsity Lincoln Douglas Isha Shah was a semi-finalist and Opalina Vetrichelvan was a quarter-finalist.

Public Forum, Speech and Debate’s partner debate event, did very well at the tournament. In junior varsity Public Forum, Daniel Lok and Caitlyn Phan placed first, Meghana Sunkara and Stephan Bui were semi-finalists, and Isha Gupta and Anya Zhang semi-finalist. Lastly, in varsity Public Forum Rishi Saran and Shivam Saran placed second, Brock Walker and Aisha Sanwal were quarter-finalist, and Shaan Majid and Evan Crosby were semifinalist.

“I’m so proud of the team and very excited to see them continue to do well in future tournaments, says Speech and Debate President Shivam Saran.

The season is far from over for Speech and Debate; soon, they will compete at County, State, and District competitions in order to qualify for national tournaments. The team is hopeful that they will be just as successful in the future. Congratulations, Clark Speech and Debate!