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Dozens of Leland High School students are on their way to the state speech and debate tournament at California State University, Northridge in April after qualifying at competitions on their own campus this month.
Leland hosted qualifying rounds on March 5 and 19, besting teams from Bellarmine, Lynbrook, Presentation and other South Bay high schools. A longtime speech and debate powerhouse--last year's team took top honors at the national tournament in Boston--Leland's team boasts 370 members this year.
Leland's young orators cleaned up in numerous categories at the state qualifiers. Senior Melita Khoshabe, freshman Nupur Dorkas and sophomores Meera Bhaskar and Misha Caohuu were tops in thematic interpretation, weaving together three dramatic or humorous pieces on a similar topic. Junior Krisna Bhargava, freshman Varun Rajan and sophomore Roxanne Rashedi tickled the judges' funny bones with their humorous Interpretations. Freshmen Anvy Nguyen and Lauren Cao, juniors Nina Sung and Lynn Salman and sophomores Alethia Shih and Maha Neochy all went dramatic with their interpretations.
Seniors Shahid Syed, Wahid Syed and Sindhu Natarajan and juniors William Son and Mona Liu borrowed from great speakers past and present for their oratorical interpretations. The duo interpretation teams of seniors James Tseng and Anthony Tran, seniors Iqwak Bhurji and Yue Tu, sophomores Erica Pollock and Karen Chien, juniors Christine Nguyen and Jonathan Kim and juniors Stanley Chen and Reinaldo Halim all proved the theory that two speakers can be better than one.
Senior Walter Adams and sophomore Caroline Xie both won kudos for their original poetry and prose, as did junior Divya Musinipally and senior Nandita Sriram for original oratory and sophomore Sachi Lake for original advocacy.
Juniors Gautum Thapar, Ben Kung and Neil Majithia and sophomore Akshay Rao showed a grasp of international news in the foreign extemporaneous competition. Seniors Aseem Padukone, Nathaniel Furniss and Mahdi Ashkatorab successfully debated national issues in student congress, while senior Ankur Mandhania and sophomore Akshay Rao excelled in parliamentary debate.
Junior Ashley Chang qualified for the state tournament in expository speaking, and junior Ankur Mandhania and senior Lei Huang proved adept at impromptu oration.
The state tournament will begin April 29.
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