Cal State Fullerton Speech and Debate Tournament – May 1st, 2016

The last tournament of the 2015-2016 school year took place on May 1st, 2016, at Cal State Fullerton High School Invitational. Students were looking forward to this tournament to showcase what they had learned.

In Policy Debate, middle-schoolers Eric Lu and Alex Liang signed up for the Open Division, where they competed with experienced high and middle school debaters. They not only broke, but fought to the final round and took home the 2nd place. Congratulations to them for this hard-earned trophy!

In Lincoln Douglas Debate Open Division, Kudos middle schoolers Anjee Feng and Timothy Guo broke to the Octas Finals. It was exciting to see that the Champion of this category, Edison Wong, had been a Kudos contestant until he went on to the 10th grade. Congratulations, Edison!

In Public Forum, Ethan Chang and Aaron Zhang advanced all the way in the Middle School division to the last round and ended up in top 8.

In speech categories, most of Kudos contestants focused on the Impromptu Speech event. Impromptu is a five- to eight-minute speech with a characteristically short preparation time of one to two minutes. Everything is chosen and decided on the spot. Because of its nature, it is the most unpredictable speech event.

8th grader Sharon Liu, after 6 months of Coach Hacela’s coaching, and two years of solid classes behind her, had drastically improved her delivery style and improvisational skills. She got 6th place in the previous tournament and the goal this time was making the top 3.

Before the tournament, Coach Hacela had decided to enhance coaching intensity for Sharon and other students to increase their chances in this last tournament. Kudos Principal gave the nod; he led the Kudos team not just to finals, but claimed the championship in Cal State Fullerton speech tournament Impromptu event! Sharon finally got her first championship! She was very emotional and shed tears of joy when receiving the award.

Sherry Li did an amazing job in the Open Humorous Interp event. Against high and middle school contenders, she worked hard under the guidance of Coach Josh and got the 3rd Place.

Benny Tong competed for the first time in Congress. He had multiple discussions with coach Mr. Wheeler about how to be persuasive and how to improve his bill in general. He broke and advanced to final, making his mom very proud!

This tournament ended with big applause to all the coaches and parents, most importantly our young warriors. You all made this an enjoyable journey, we are proud of your efforts, dedication, and discipline. We will see you all after summer!!