By Borislava Panayotova
Year after year, the Tempe Prep Speech and Debate team continues to prove that it isa small but mighty team on the Arizona circuit.
At the Prep Congress tournament at Scottsdale Prep, eight students represented TPA in Congressional Debate, an event where students argue in favor of or against passing bills, and several reached the awards stage.
In middle-school Congress, Sixth-grader Joshua Dorbin and seventh-grader Nicandra Acosta placed in fifth and eighth places, respectively. In high-school Congress, senior Connor Clark, freshman Carlos Ovando and junior Dayanara Gamez were Senate finalists and junior Taylor Conley was a House finalist.
The team’s performance impressed coach Danielle Delgado. “It blew my expectations out of the water,” she said. Delgado also explained that the team showed great teamwork; members who were not competing at the tournament attended to show support for their teammates.
On Oct. 7 and 8 the team attended the Maverick tournament at Desert Vista High School, its first full tournament of the year. Carlos placed first in Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Dayanara placed second in House 1 Congressional Debate and fourth in Impromptu Speaking. Both Dayanara and Connor were also Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate quarter-finalists.
Coach Delgado’s main goal for the season is to “make sure that the team is growing and everybody is confident in what they do,” she said. This means that there will be new additions to the coaching staff.
One of these is Mrs. Kathleen Clark, a long-time supporter of the team and TPA parent. Her role is to help with the team’s administrative and logistical duties. The team is currently looking for a debate coach to help students improve in these events.
Coach Delgado says, “Every single person that is in both the middle school and high school team are absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to see what they do this season.” She is looking forward to the upcoming tournaments and is ready to lead the team to even more success.