The RBHS Speech and Debate team competed at the Randy Pierce Winter Classic at Pattonville High School and earned fourth place in sweepstakes, Dec. 13-Dec. 14. The tournament organizers, coaches and students involved in the Pattonville Speech and Debate team, chose to include only one preliminary round of debate on Friday night as opposed to the customary two preliminary rounds. This allowed debaters to leave the tournament earlier on the first night. The change was part of a larger theme of self-care that inspired the unusual schedule and the tournament’s fundraising effort. The fundraiser supported a group for those involved in the Eastern Missouri debate community to discuss mental health and well-being. Junior Quinn Tyler said she appreciated the altered timing.

“I really enjoyed only have one round on Friday night. As debaters, we don’t really eat or sleep enough during tournaments so having a little extra time to get that extra hour of sleep or just have some down time to hang out with your friends really makes the entire experience more enjoyable,” Tyler said. “Overall, this tournament felt way more relaxed and I think a little more sleep than usual really helped make the experience better for everyone.”

Whether as a result of the schedule or not, the team faired better than previous years. RBHS Speech and Debate head coach Benjamin Niewoehner said the team competed with an unprecedented amount of success.

“The team’s performance at Pattonville this year was like nothing I had seen in previous years,” Niewoehner said. “We always do well at this tournament, but the fact that students took home first place in all three debate events at the [champion] and varsity levels of competition is astounding.”

Tyler said in her experience the team has been relatively unsuccessful in past efforts at the Randy Pierce Winter Classic as compared to other tournaments. She said this removed some of the pressure of competing in Varsity Policy Debate with her partner Junior Vishnu Arun.

“Entering the tournament knowing that RBHS never does well at [the Randy Pierce Winter Classic] made it so I walked in with no expectations,” Tyler said. “I’ve gone to this tournament the past two years. I’ve done debate and never gotten past prelims, so I was extremely surprised when Vishnu and I kept advancing. I think the fact that we all did so well at a tournament [when] we’ve never done well in in the past really shows how we’ve grown as a team. Getting fourth as a whole team certainly helps show growth from always going home early Saturday night when no one advanced.”

Besides excelling within the debate events, competitors showed great success within individual entries or speech events. Sophomore Ahmad Ennin earned second place in Varsity Original Oratory. He said the level of competitiveness among orators differed.

“I think I did pretty good,” Ennin said. “The competition varied. Some people stuttered a lot, some had really nice content, some were really monotone and some were really flamboyant. Overall I felt like some of the people who made it to finals got there by the skin of their teeth, while others definitely deserved to be there.”[penci_info_box _text=”- William Cover and Ben Kimchi earned first place in Champion division Public Forum Debate.
– Shruti Gautam earned first place in Champion division Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
– Amira McKee and James Glaser earned third place in Champion division Public Forum Debate.
– Vignesh Kumar earned third place in Champion division Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
– Justin Hahm and Samaranjay Goyal earned eighth place in Champion division Policy Debate.
– Quinn Tyler and Vishnu Arun earned first place in Varsity division Policy Debate.
– Autumn Slingerland and Zihao Zhou earned third place in Varsity Policy Debate.
– Yoell Tewolde and Evrim Agca earned sixth place in Novice division Policy Debate.
– Rachael Erickson earned first place in Open Student Congress.
– Shruti Gautam earned second place in Varsity Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking.
– Ahmad Ennin earned second place in Varsity Original Oratory.
– William Cover earned second place in Varsity Informative Speaking.
– James Glaser earned fifth place in Varsity Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking.
– Vignesh Kumar earned fifth place in Varsity Original Oratory.” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-trophy” icon_size=”lg” icon_position=”icon-left” block_id=”penci_info_box-1576474198964″ _title=”RBHS placings at Randy Pierce Winter Classic”]RBHS Speech and Debate team earned first place within three of the nine debate categories, two of which were in the champion division, the highest level of competition available. RBHS also included eight finalists in speech events. Niewoehner said the success at the tournament served to further motivate and unite the team.

“I’m very proud of the team and their commitment to each other and to their work,” Niewoehner said. “ I hope that students walk away from each tournament remembering not only the dedication it takes to get there but also the experience of being active members of a team that supports and leads.”

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