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This past weekend our Speech and Debate freshmen embodied what it means to think and live well as they participated in the Orange County Speech League Novice Tournament 2025. This tournament is especially fun because it is a chance for students who just joined the team to get some practice in their preferred event. 

We had a great showing with three of our freshmen (Ryan Henry, Blakely Manderson, and Dean Soldan) competing in the Impromptu Event. This is a high pressure event in which you are given a topic and two minutes in which to prepare a 5 minute speech. You are then judged on the content and delivery of your speech. Our impromptu competitors did this for three rounds and did an excellent job!

We also had two teams compete in Public Forum. Chris Cannavo Davis participated with Dean Soldan and Gemma Lee participated with Elisa Pivoda. Public Forum is a debate activity in which teams of 2 debate each other on a prescribed topic. This event is very competitive and demands a lot of quick thinking and researching skills. Big props to our two teams who entered the fray!

Special congratulations is due to Gemma Lee and Elisa Pivoda who went undefeated in all three of their debate rounds! This is an extremely impressive performance, especially considering it was their first showing at a competitive debate tournament.

It was great to see our Tritons competing with competence and class. We look forward to a great year of Speech and Debate here at Pacifica!