Cheers to our Middle & Upper School Speech & Debate students on their phenomenal performance so far this fall! From Long Beach to Fullerton to nearby Alhambra and San Gabriel, our team has been hard at work preparing, speaking and debating, and bringing home numerous wins. Shout out to all on their hard work, with a special kudos to the teams that are on the road to qualifying for the state championship! See below for the full placings and, of course, go Tigers!

P.S. Want to read more about Speech & Debate and the team's philosophy? Click here.

The team's placings this fall so far are as follows:

Jack Howe Invitational (a competitive tournament at Cal State Long Beach with 139 schools and 1,092 entries from 13 different states)

• Sienna W. ’28 - Public Forum Debate: 17th Place Speaker (out of 270 entries!)
• Larkin M. ’27 - Public Forum Debate: 21st Place Speaker (out of 270 entries!)
• Joy C. ’30 - Novice Congress: 4th Place

Screamin' Eagles Invitational (a speech-only tournament at Gabrielino High School)

• Olivia T. ’26 - Extemp: 4th Place
• Lucy H. ’28 - Impromptu: 5th Place
• Lucy H. ’28 - Original Oratory: 5th Place
• Claire F. ’28 - Informative Speaking: 2nd Place
• Naava C. ’29 - Novice Extemp: 2nd Place
• Samar K. ’29 - Novice Extemp: 4th Place
• Caitlin P. ’29 - Novice Extemp: 5th Place
• Ailis H. ’29 - Novice Original Oratory: 5th Place

Cal State Fullerton Invitational (a tournament with 65 schools and 293 entries from 17 states and countries, including Canada, Taiwan, and Korea!)

• Sienna W. ’28 - Original Oratory: 1st Place
• Stella W. ’31 - Informative Speaking: 4th Place
• Lucy H. ’28 - Impromptu Speaking: 2nd Place
• Lucy H. ’28 - Parliamentary Debate: 2nd Place Speaker
• Madison W. '30 - Novice Original Oratory: 1st Place
• Lillian P. ’29 - Novice Original Oratory: 3rd Place
• Amelia C. ’30 - Middle School SPAR: 1st Place
• Stella W. ’31 - Middle School Humorous Interpretation: 1st Place
• Vivienne P. ’30 - Middle School Congressional Debate: 1st Place
• Madison W. ’30 - Middle School Congressional Debate: 2nd Place

Fallhambra Debate (a tournament including novice/JV and varsity division; this tournament offers legs—a.k.a. half of a qualification—to the State Championship tournament)

Two debate teams from Westridge earned legs at this tournament! If those two teams also win first or second place at the spring debate tournament later in the year, they will automatically qualify for State. Needless to say, we're rooting for you, Tigers!

• Lucy H. & Kemi Z. ’28 - Parliamentary Debate: 1st Place (with a leg to state!)
• Adelaide C. & Grace W. ’26 - Public Forum Debate: 1st Place (with a leg to state!)
• Caitlin P. & Samar K. ’29 - JV Public Forum Debate: 1st Place (undefeated!)
• Lillian P. ’29 - Novice Congressional Debate: 1st Place
• Naava C. ’29 - JV Congressional Debate: 2nd Place
• Claire F. & Amelie S. ’28 - Parliamentary Debate: 4th Place
• Macy Z. & Amelie S. ’28 - Novice Parliamentary Debate: 5th Place

Southern California Junior Forensics League (SCJFL) Speech #2 (a tournament with over 300 entries across all events at Jefferson Middle School)

• Rokia C. ’31 - Declamation: 1st Place
• Kaira D. ’31 - Declamation: 3rd Place
• Madison B. ’31 - Dramatic Interpretation: 1st Place 
• Amelia C. ’30 - Dramatic Interpretation: 2nd Place
• Sofia M. and Vivienne P. ’30 - Duo Interpretation: 2nd Place
• Maliha R. and Madison W. ’30 - Duo Interpretation: 4th Place
• Joy C. ’30 - Impromptu Speaking: 5th Place
• Emily Z. ’31 - Impromptu Speaking: 8th Place 
• Stella W. ’31 - Informative Speaking: 2nd Place
• Amelia C. ’30 - Informative Speaking: 5th Place
• Queenie Z. ’30 - Informative Speaking: 6th Place
• Madison W. ’30 - Persuasive Speaking: 3rd Place