On Mar. 4 through Mar. 5, Bonita Vista High’s Speech and Debate team competed at San Diego Imperial Valley Speech League State Qualifiers B at Carlsbad High School. Competitors competed in their platform speeches and/or interpretive speeches and the Crusader asked them what their biggest takeaway from the tournament was.

“Being able to meet more people from different schools that share the same ideas as me and interest in debate and speech. It shows that today’s generation is more interested in complex topics and discussing them in a very academic, polite [and] friendly manner.”

“Although initially [Speech and Debate] is for things that you want as a student, such as going to college or getting first place in a tournament, afterwards, I realized that the best part of Speech and Debate is the family. I can’t find better people who are more supportive of me [and] who I relate to more outside of Speech and Debate. I think that’s the beauty of Speech and Debate.”

“Always advocate for something that you believe in, because Speech and Debate offers you this platform to advocate for different things; that’s the reason why I joined. Since Speech and Debate gives you this opportunity to speak your mind, you need to be able to show why you care about the issue that you face.”

 “Be prepared and have everything ready. Throughout the day most of my speeches were good, but they needed more effort and I need[ed] to plan it more. There [were] a lot [of] revisions I could have done. So, it’s just a matter of being prepared and having good time management skills.”