The Arcadia community had a rare chance to experience the results of Arcadia Speech and Debate team’s hard work last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, at the team’s annual Speech Follies event.
Performances spanned three days, from Mar. 27 to 29, in the Arcadia High School (AHS) Lecture Hall, with different speeches and presenters for each night. The two hour program consisted of 12 different acts, honed for competition over the course of the year by team members. On night one, students performed typical events from Speech and Debate competitions, ranging from quick-fire debate to emotional monologues. From a chaotic breakup between Lebron James and Tarzan, to the dark depths of the domestic abuse of Lesile Morgan, the audience was taken on quite the journey by the 16 students performing.
The event started off with senior Sahana Kannan and her interpretation of a speech about organ donation. Kannan told a true story about a young teenager with aspiring hopes to be a neurosurgeon. Unfortunately, due to a fatal car accident, the teenager was never about to achieve his dreams. However, he was still able to save more than five lives by donating his organs.
Kannan’s speech was followed up by freshman Zoe Luc and her speech about hate crimes against Asian Americans. Luc told the story based on the brutality against Vincent Chin, an Asian American who was a victim of an Anti-Asian hate crime. To express the severity of the issue of discrimination, Luc shared statistics regarding the heinous actions done to Asian Americans.
Next was junior Enze Tong, and his speech about accepting his heritage, which was titled “Lao Hu 老虎.” As a child, Tong’s mother would make him small original toys, and although it seemed like just some old wrapping paper, the toys were made with love. Tong had an unfortunate encounter with another student who looked down upon his heritage, which made him feel ashamed, causing him to distance himself from his heritage. It took the death of his mother to finally realize that regardless of what other people thought of you, staying true to your roots is what keeps you grounded when the world tries to tear you apart.
“From just the first three speeches alone, I was moved,” said sophomore attendee Reid Sibley. “The issues raised awareness of extremely serious issues within the United States, and it was definitely worth hearing.”
Junior Tanya Gupta’s speech about domestic violence touched on yet another serious issue. Her speech followed the story of Leslie Morgan and her abusive husband, Connor Morgan. The speech aimed to answer the puzzling question: why don’t victims of domestic abuse leave?
Through Morgan’s journey, Gupta educated the audience on domestic violence.
Following Gupta’s speech was junior Aiden Yen and Sebastian Chen. Unlike the other presenters, their performance was improvised. After a minute of the audience giving their funniest suggestions, the duo decided on the topic of Lebron James and Tarzan’s messy first date in the forest.
“It was awesome,” said sophomore attendee Mitsuki Otsu. “They were so funny, and it’s incredible how they coordinated this with only a few minutes to prepare. They really brought their A-Game.”
To follow this act, two members from the audience were selected to try to improvise another act. Sophomore Sreekar Raja and freshman Dylan Yu’s topic was Michael Jackson and Gojo having a dance battle on the moon.
After a quick intermission, a debate began. There were two teams that debated whether anime was an important part of American culture. Sophomore William Shi and junior Selina Zhang were the first team and argued against this narrative, while seniors Sofia Avendano and Athena Menck supported this statement. After a few minutes of a heated debate, the audience voted in favor of Shi and Zhang, concluding the debate.
After these three short comedic stunts, the room turned serious yet again, as junior Maria Tai took the stage. She told a story about Valerie Ann and her abusive husband Kyle Ann, an airline worker. Tai expressed that people had to fight back and speak up about the injustices they are facing or that they may see.
Zheng was up next with her compelling speech about lung cancer and the dangers it poses to people, both physically and mentally. Her speech shed light on the dangers of lung cancer, and addressed the common misconception of lung cancer.
“It really opened my eyes on lung cancer,” said sophomore attendee Amanda Djuandi. “It answered some questions I had, and I feel like it was really informational being there, and the speech was delivered in such a way that really resonated with me.”
Next up was senior Sydney Lu, who spoke about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which followed the perspective of a grieving mother who lost her son. The story talked about a little boy, Jessie, who was shot, and how his mother felt powerless.
Lastly, sophomore Madeline Wong delivered her speech about the corruptions of the justice system, using the trial of O.J. Simpson as an example. Although there was evidence that Simpson was responsible for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, he was found not guilty. This incident shocked the world, and brought light to the injustices of America. Wong’s speech was intended to teach the crowd a lesson about integrity and the political state of the United States.
“I’m really glad I went; it was a great experience, and I would totally recommend it to others,” said sophomore Aidan Chau. “It was so well organized, and I felt like the event went by way too fast. I had a blast.”
