By Lindsay Newfeld

‘Tis the season of all-nighters, extra shots of espresso, and snazzy pant suits — at least for the members of Tempe Prep’s speech and debate team. Debate season has started and while Tempe Prep has a small team, we more than make up for it in dedication and determination. At the Red Mountain tournament, the first of the year, Tempe Prep only had ten competitors entered, but still managed to make a strong showing.

Seniors Rachel Neglia and Erin Guiney both made it to finals in Upper Impromptu, a limited-preparation event in which competitors are given seven minutes to compose and deliver a coherent speech. Rachel placed fourth overall and Erin, sixth. Sophomore Lindsay Newfeld reached finals in Lower Impromptu, placing fifth overall. Additionally, senior Enrique Favaro placed third in his house for Congressional Debate and fifth overall in Extemporaneous Speaking, another limited-preparation event.

Tempe Prep as a team placed fourth, which is outstanding considering we compete against schools such as Desert Vista and Hamilton that have teams with hundreds of students. In accordance with the exhausting schedule speech and debate poses, the next tournament of the season occurred the very next weekend at McClintock High School. Again, Tempe Prep proved its worth with such a small team. Freshman Morgan Cryder reached semifinals in Prose, an outstanding achievement for her first tournament.

Sophomore Aimee Cheng also reached semifinals in Extemporaneous speaking and was named the top novice speaker in that event. Enrique Favaro won the tournament in Extemporaneous speaking and reached finals in Congressional Debate along with other seniors Rachel Neglia and Erin Guiney. For sophomore Aimee Cheng, the best part of a tournament is “ seeing all of my friends who compete with other schools, and debating of course!” At our latest tournament, held at Mountain View High School, Tempe Prep again did well. Enrique Favaro placed third in Impromptu speaking out of 108 entries and made it to the top six in Congressional Debate along with Erin Guiney. Sophomore Harish Ilango broke to semifinals in Extemporaneous Debate for the first time as well. This tournament also gave our junior high team a chance to experience competing.

While this debate season has been off to a slow start and we’ ve suffered the loss of some great teammates, we can still make this an amazing year.With two very strong senior captains, a group of dedicated sophomores, and some impressive novices, the sky is the limit. For Harish Ilango, “I’ m most looking forward to Fullerton [a tournament held in Long Beach, California] It’ s our first out-of-state tournament and it will be cool to perform at a national level.” If you’re ever interested in joining just come to a meeting after school Monday or Wednesday in Room 404!