Five members of the Mountain View-Los Altos (MVLA) Speech and Debate Team competed in State and National championships.  Two of them placed among the best competitors in their events.

Prashant Rai (’06) of Mountain View High advanced to the quarterfinal rounds in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at The Tournament of Champions, the premier high school national debate tournament, held at the University of Kentucky.  He placed fifth among the Lincoln-Douglas debaters at the tournament and received the 6th Place Speaker Award. 

Cyndhia Ramat (’07) of Los Altos High advanced to the final rounds at the California State Speech Championship Tournament, which was held at California State University at Northridge. Cyndhia placed seventh in the tournament in Original Oratory. Her award winning speech entitled, “Knotty Ties,” addresses the challenges children of many immigrants must overcome.

Stephen Hess (’06) of Mountain View High also competed in The Tournament of Champions.  This competition is restricted to 76 Lincoln-Douglas debaters who have achieved the best records at select tournaments held around the country. It is exceptional for one, let alone two students, from any school to win a spot to compete at the tournament.  The topic Stephen and Prashant debated is: “Democracy is best served by a strict separation between church and state.”  Both boys are alternates to the National Forensics League Tournament.  They competed in nine other tournaments this year—most were two or three days in length—and at every one, both of them advanced to the late elimination rounds. 

Speech Finalists and Semifinalists

Foreign Extemporaneous

Andy Lai (’08 MVHS) –Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament

Kunal Lakhan-Paul (’06 MVHS)—Semifinalist At Lynbrook Novice Tournament

Brian Radzinsky (’05 MVHS) – Semifinalist: Stanford Invitational, Menlo-Atherton High Speech Tournament, and both of the State Qualifying Tournaments at Leland High.

Daniel Slate (’05 MVHS) –Semifinalist at James Logan High MLK Invitational and the Stanford Invitational.

National Extemporaneous 

Shaheen Adibi (’08 MVHS) – Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament. 

 Impromptu

Benjamin Colman (’08 LAHS) –Second Place at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

Urvi Nagrani (’05 MVHS) –Finalist at Santa Clara University Spring Tournament.

Original Prose And Poetry

Kaela Garvin (’08 MVHS)—Semifinalist at James Logan Invitational and Menlo-Atherton. Finalist at the State Qualifying 2 Tournament at Leland High, First Place Winner at Bellarmine IE Tournament.

Nick Lam (’06 MVHS) –Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

Maggie Moreno (’07) – Semifinalist at Bellarmine IE Tournament.

Urvi Nagrani (’05 MVHS) – Semifinalist at both of the State Qualifying Tournaments at Leland High School, Finalist at Santa Clara University Spring Tournament.

Laura Passarelli (’08 MVHS) – Competitor at the California State Speech Championship Tournament, First Place Winner at the State Qualifying 1 Tournament at Leland High. Second Place Winner at Menlo-Atherton Speech Tournament, Third Place Winner at Bellarmine IE Tournament.

Original Advocacy

Christine Ryan (’08 MVHS) – Semifinalist at Menlo-Atherton Speech Tournament, and the State Qualifying 1Tournament.

Original Oratory

Masha Golovina (’06 LAHS) –Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

Lauren Wada (’08 MVHS) – Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

Cyndhia Ramat (’07 LAHS) – Seventh Place Winner at the California State Speech Championship Tournament, Semifinalist at National Qualifying Tournament at Bellarmine, Semifinalist at the State Qualifying 1 Tournament at Leland High, Third Place Winner at the State Qualifying 2 Tournament at Leland High, Semifinalist at Bellarmine IE Tournament.  Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

Dramatic Interpretation

Kaela Garvin (’08 MVHS) Semifinalist at Menlo-Atherton Speech Tournament, Fourth Place at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

Laura Passarelli (’08 MVHS) Fifth Place at Lynbrook Novice Tournament

Rose Wei (’08 MVHS) – Competitor at the California State Speech Championship Tournament, Fourth Place Winner at the State Qualifying 2 Tournament at Leland High, Third Place Winner at Santa Clara University Spring Tournament.

Oratorical Interpretation

Jenna Jackson (’08 LAHS)—Semifinalist at Lynbrook Novice Tournament.

 Duo Interpretation

Ferris Jabr (’08MVHS) and Urvi Nagrani (‘8 MVHS) –Finalist at the State Qualifying 2 Tournament at Leland High.

Spontaneous Argumentation

Urvi Nagrani (’08 MVHS) – Fifth Place Winner at Stanford Invitational.

Debate Elimination Rounds

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Stephen Hess (’06 MVHS)

Palo Alto Round Robin—Second Place

National Qualifying Tournament--Finalist

Stanford Invitational—Octofinalist. Fourth best Speaker Award.

Berkeley Invitational—Octofinalist. Undefeated 8 consecutive rounds

Blake School Holiday Classic, in Minneapolis—Octofinalist

James Logan High MLK Invitational—Quarterfinalist

Greenhill Classic Debate Invitational, Addison, Texas—Double-Octofinalist

Mid-America Cup, Des Moines Iowa—Double-Octofinalist. Speaker award

Harker School Invitational—First Place, tie.  Undefeated 10 consecutive rounds

Prashant Rai (’06 MVHS)

Tournament of Champions—Quarterfinalist (Fifth Place), 6^th best Speaker Award.

Palo Alto Round Robin—Third Place

National Qualifying Tournament--Finalist

Berkeley Invitational—Double-octofinalist. Speaker Award

Stanford Invitational—Double-octofinalist. Speaker Award.

Stanford Round Robin—Second Place

Blake School Holiday Classic, in Minneapolis—Semifinalist. First place Speaker Award

Greenhill Classic Debate Invitational, Addison, Texas —Octofinalist. Speaker Award

Mid-America Cup, Des Moines Iowa—Second Place. Speaker Award

Harker School Invitational—First Place, tie.  First place Speaker Award

Parliamentary Debate