Last week, the 11-13, Chapin’s debate teams, and the academic teams went to Lubbock Texas to compete in UIL regionals; wherein neither of the two competitors broke to finals. Jonah Hormel competed in persuasive extemporaneous speaking, and Colin Tipton competed in informative extemporaneous speaking. While not quite as well as years prior, coach Thompson was moderately pleased with the results.

“SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF HOW WE DID”

Persuasive extemporaneous speaking involves receiving a random topic, spending thirty minutes preparing a speech, and then finally giving the speech in an attempt to persuade a judge to your way of thinking. While Hormel does not have a lot of experience in this particular event, he does have three years of experience that did help him. Hormel scored third in his room, one place away from advancing to finals.

“It was a bit disappointing, but from the moment I walked out of the room I knew I wasn’t advancing. There were several very avoidable, and very regrettable, mistakes that I made. The worst part about it all is that I am good enough to make it to state, but messed up on minor things that I shouldn’t have.”

Informative extemporaneous speaking is very similar to persuasive, but rather than persuade, the speaker attempts to solely inform the judge. Colin Tipton scored fifth in his room, three positions away from advancing to finals.

“I’m happy with how we did. I’ve never done this event in a normal tournament, so the fact that I advanced to regionals is pretty good.”

All in all, the results, while lackluster in comparison to previous years, were not utterly terrible. Colin Tipton, a sophomore, gained valuable experience, and Jonah Hormel has nationals to look forward to.