Eight hours one way brought the Grand County High School Speech and Debate Team to the steps of the Arizona State University debate tournament, held from Friday, Jan. 5, to Sunday, Jan. 7, on the ASU campus.
It was the largest tournament the team has attended, and drew students from many other states, including New York, Florida, North Carolina, California, Colorado and New Mexico. Overall, it was a valuable experience for the 10 students who participated.
“The campus was worth the trip and the competition was worth the time,” varsity debater and GCHS senior Caylee Stroder said.
Stroder made it as far as the triple octofinal round in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Stroder was one of five students from Utah competing in Lincoln-Douglas to make it to elimination rounds.
Grace Osusky and Cody Gatlin also represented Grand County alongside Stroder in the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Osusky also participated in extemporaneous speaking; Gatlin participated in impromptu speaking; Ty Martinez competed in congress; and Jaidyn Thomas and Miranda Corbin competed in the public forum debate event.
Corbin also competed in the Programmed Oral Interpretation (POI) competition, where students pick a poem or two and a prose selection and intertwine them to convey a message about an issue the speaker feels is important. Emma Millis partnered with Kai Wainer in public forum; Wainer also participated in extemporaneous speaking; and Phillip Geiser and Aidan Guzman-Newton also participated in public forum.
The team will next compete at the Marie Clegg Jones Memorial tournament on Friday, Jan. 26, and Saturday, Jan. 27, at Utah Valley University in Orem.
