Carson High debate team makes finals at Reed

Carson High School’s debate team wrapped up its third league tournament at Reed High School the weekend of Nov. 24. This tournament hosted 16 schools and 184 individual competitors. The team continued its successful season with students advancing into finals in a wide range of speech and debate events.

Nov. 24 events focused on speech. Ellie Demet and Kayden Kemp placed fifth and fourth respectively in humorous interpretation. Demet performed “Peabody and Sherman” and Kemp’s piece was titled “Spider Man at Hero Con.”

Addison Hopkins claimed first place in Senior Humorous Interpretation with his cutting of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

Carson High also claimed half of the final round rank in Original Oratory. In this event, students give an inspirational speech on a problem in society and present ways to solve it. Chelsea Empeno finished sixth with her piece on procrastination.

Vivi Castro placed fifth addressing the issue of mental health among U.S. military veterans. Nasia Perkins finished second speaking on the impact of negative emotions and the power of saying “hello.” Carson also continued its dominance of the event Program Oral Interpretation. Blending poetry, prose, literature, drama and news articles together, Makala Heyder placed second in novice, with Summer McGill and Emily Tran taking third and first in senior division. Heyder examined the pressures of being the oldest child, McGill brought attention to the struggles of supporting family members with dementia and Tran focused on discrimination against Asian-Americans. Kyle Allen finished second overall in senior foreign extemporaneous. He spoke on topics including terrorism in Uganda and gender equality in Chechnya.

The Nov. 25 debate events also saw a wide range of success. The majority of Carson competitors placed in the top 10 in speaking points for their events. For each preliminary round judges assign speaking points for style, questioning and analysis. All six Carson competitors in policy debate placed in the top 10. Max Gold finished 10th, Kaden Sa ninth, Nasia Perkins seventh, Jazzy Avila fifth, Summer McGill third and Vivi Mellow claimed first. Alexis Ropp climbed third in novice Lincoln Douglas.

In novice Public Forum, Thomas Lance finished ninth, Makala Heyder took third and Emily Tran took first.

Senior Public Forum saw Kyle Allen finish 10th and partner Vivi Castro took third. Summer McGill and Nasia Perkins also finished second overall in policy debate with the topic, “The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security and/or providing a basic income.”

Makala Heyder and Emily Tran took first place in novice Public Forum debate with the topic, “The United States federal government should forgive all federal student loan debt.” Heyder and Tran had a perfect tournament, winning every judge ballot in their competition.

Heyder, Tran, McGill and Perkins took three top three spots. Tran earned the coveted Iron Fist team award, placed first in three different categories at one tournament.