The Littleton Speech and Debate team competed in the two-day tournament called the “Mullen High School Colorado Cup.” The team has competed at other competitions around the Denver-metro area but, this two-day tournament opened up new opportunities for the team.
With the two-day format, it made things run a lot faster and smoother than typical tournaments. It also authorized there to be more rounds that were super beneficial to those participating.
“[The two-day tournaments] allowed for me to try a new category and also spaced out (time-wise) the rounds I needed to be in which was super helpful.”
– Maddie Engeman
The tournament hosted at Mullen High School also gave into some challenges with the time commitment. Showing up at 7 am and leaving around 9 pm can be hard as you are there all day competing, especially since this meet was two days for most of the individuals and duos.
It did pay off for many Littleton High students as many were breaking: which means that you were able to make it to finals and compete with only five other people in your competition.
Trevor Metz and Ethan Rogers were quarterfinalists, Public Forum Debate. Ally Procopio was a semifinalist in the category of Original Oratory. Natalie Parkhurst placed third in the Humor category. Elianajoy Volin placed second in the category of Poetry. Lilyann Dominick was a semifinalist under the category of POI. Maddie Engeman won first place in her category informative with her topic of loneliness.
Many of these topics were personal, as students got to speak on topics they are connected or have an emotional connection too.
“My speech is titled ”On Beauty” and is about how women are taught to hate their bodies, and that beauty is something they will have only after they change things about themselves like straightening their hair, or wearing more makeup, or losing weight. My piece system that this idea of beauty is dangerous and instead of that we are all already beautiful just the way we are,” said Elianajoy Volin.
Overall, this tournament reflected on Littleton with a positive impact. Although we did not place in the Colorado Cup, the team supported each other through rounds, and everyone did an outstanding job representing LHS.
