On September 8th and 9th, I traveled and competed alongside the Hays Speech and Debate team at La Vernia, Texas, at the La Vernia and East Central High School TFA tournament.

Before discussing the trophies and the accomplishments, let’s talk about the tournament experience itself. While having to wake up at 5 in the morning on both Friday and Saturday was about as fun as you may have expected, once we actually got there, we were all very excited to go.

On Friday, many of us advanced to the Semi-Final round, which alone was enough to make some of us extremely happy. It shows far many of us had grown as competitors. Personally, I didn’t even break to semis last year. In the end, Friday brought success for many of us. I placed 5th in Foreign Extemp, and Jackson Juel placed 6th in Domestic Extemp.

Dorothy Adams, Mason Coleman, Lina Ramos, and Abram Garza all made it to the semi-final rounds.

Saturday did not lack success either. While on Friday we only brought a curated group of individuals in two vans, we brought a bus down of old and new faces alike on Saturday. The day began with many of us getting off the bus after a long nap, but once we made it we were all locked in.

While a lot of the Debate tournament experience is intense competition, it’s the time in between that makes me love the activity. We interviewed the people working concessions, we took a bunch of funny pictures, and overall the culture that’s been cultivated on the Debate team makes me proud to be a part of it. We ended the day at this nice restaurant right outside La Vernia High School called The Den (I’d really recommend it.)

While I only made it to Semis in both Extemp and Congress, when all was said and done, we brought home both trophies and great memories. Congratulations to Dorothy Adams for placing 4th in Foreign Extemp and to both Dorothy and Jackson Juel for making it to the final round of Congressional Debate. Congratulations to the semifinalists Logan Beyer in Foreign Extemp and Lina Ramos and Hunter Cruce in Domestic Extemp.