The HW Speech Team competed in the NOF Maple Tournament on 05/01/26, and 9 students earned medals in different events. The tournament gave students a chance to show the speeches they had been practicing and improving throughout the school year.
According to Dr. Wang, a science teacher and coach for the speech team, students usually write and revise one to two speeches. Because of that, the tournament was a way for them to show their hard work and improvement. Instead of competing live, students submitted videos of their speeches for judges to watch. Five judges watched the speeches and then gave rankings and feedback
The tournament had different categories, including impromptu, declamation, original oratory and assigned platform. Each event focused on a different speaking skill. Impromptu tested how well students could think quickly. Declamation focused more on memorization and delivery. Original oratory allowed students to share their own ideas in a persuasive speech, while assigned platform gave students a specific topic to speak about.
Since the tournament was asynchronous, meaning students submitted recorded speeches instead of performing live, it was calmer than a live competition. Students did not have to perform in front of judges in real time. However, the tournament was still competitive because every speech was judged and ranked.
One of the most exciting parts of the tournament was how many students placed in their events. Overall, the team earned four gold medals, one silver medal and five bronze medals.
Gold medalists included Isabella Kwon ’31 in Assigned Platform, Abby Martinez ’30 in Impromptu, Ava Allen ’30 in Original Oratory and Kavya Dandillaya ’30 in Declamation. Kieun Shin ’31 earned silver in Original Oratory.
Bronze medalists included Kavya Dandillaya ’30 in Impromptu, Abby Martinez ’30 in Declamation, Anya Moorjani ’30 in Original Oratory, Isabella Velayos ’30 in Declamation and Lauren Bae ’30 in Declamation.
Some students placed in more than one category, which showed that they could do well in different types of speaking events. The results showed the team’s preparation, practice and growth throughout the year. After this tournament, the HW Speech Team will continue working on confidence, delivery and strong speech writing for future competitions.
