Parker Debate Champions September & October

The Debate season began with the Queen Lili’uokalani Scrimmage. Parker had a really strong showing at the UH Hilo-hosted tournament. Parker took gold in Impromptu (Adylan Ballard), Original Oratory (Vincent Galvan), Duo Interpretation (Michael Breeze and Lance Harmeling), Extemporaneous Speaking (Takumi Wetherell), Novice Public Forum (Frida Romero & Ava Daoust/ Chaucer Hall & Charlie Kalko), Novice Policy (Petunia Logan & Kiran Harmeling) and finally Varsity Policy (Georgia Kasameyer & Soren Fesel). Overall, Parker took home an astounding seven gold medals. Special shout-out to the first-time competitors: Nithera, Ava, Frida, Emmie, Kylie, Chaucer, Charlie, Petunia, Kiran, Stella, and Marina.

These tournaments wouldn’t be possible without parent judges. Thus, the Debate Team would like to thank all the judges who sacrificed their time for Speech & Debate.

The next tournament was the Beehive Bonanza at the University of Utah. So the Debate Team took several plane flights and arrived at their first mainland tournament of the year. Top performers at Beehive were Kenji Wetherell, quarterfinalist in Open LD, Nithera Olsen, quarterfinalist in Novice LD, and Sofia Maia-Williams, quarterfinalist in Open Oratory. With an average of 50 competitors in each event, these three went above and beyond with their research and practice. The Debate Team ended the tournament with a team potluck and card game.

Thank you to our chaperones, Uncle Stefan, Aunty Leia, and Aunty Crystal, for being both amazing chaperones and judges at this tournament.

The next tournament was the first inter-island tournament of the competitive year, Roosevelt. The Parker debate brought 6 teams or 10 debaters to Oahu. Parker swept varsity categories with Ava Harris winning Congressional Debate, Kenji Wetherell going undefeated in Championship Lincoln Douglas, and Takumi Wetherell & Georgia Kasameyer going undefeated in Advanced Public Forum. The novice debaters gained a great learning experience at Roosevelt, as it was their first exposure to the Hawaii Speech League.

Thank you to chaperones and judges Aunty Jen, Uncle Alan, and Uncle Pat for helping all of us work through this tournament.

Debate has a brief break and then gets right back into it with the next tournament being another UH Hilo Scrimmage on November 22. After that scrimmage, the Bulls will travel to Punahou for another Hawaii Speech League nonqualifier on December 13.

Congrats to all debaters and good luck in future tournaments.