A Short History

Reynolds High School had a thriving debate team in the 1990s under the directorship of award-winning coach Dan Robertson (retired in 2003), assisted by Language Arts teacher Rod Fobert (d. 2023, R.I.P.). The team won dozens of trophies and proved themselves formidable competition across Oregon. Some of the Speech & Debate team's alumni have become local city council members, lawyers, and teachers, continuing to draw on skills developed while members of the team.

The 2000s saw budget cuts, waning interest, and increasing difficulty growing a team. Though RHS has had brief attempts since then at reviving that success--Dan Robertson returned from retirement in 2009-2010 when one alumna (currently a teacher in the Portland metro-area) earned a seat at the state competition in "After-Dinner Speaking (ADS)"--the team has not yet been able to reclaim its triumph.

Coach Valerie Schiller took over the team when she was hired to teach Language Arts at Reynolds in 2019. With the assistance of Portland Urban Debate League (PUDL), the team learned Policy debate techniques and competed within the league on a smaller scale against one to two other East County high schools; several team members won medals in debate and in speaking. In particular, the team took home a record amount of hardware when Reynolds hosted its first small competition, 1 February 2020. Just before the team was to compete on a larger scale at the Mt. Hood Conference District competition, the pandemic closed us down for the school year.

Even during virtual learning in 2020-2021, the Speech & Debate team grew its membership and success. The team maintained regular after-school practices via video chat. For the first time, Coach Schiller was also able to offer a debate elective class which significantly boosted participation. After continuing to earn several debate and speaking awards at online PUDL competitions, RHS Speech & Debate Team members competed at the Mt. Hood District competition 12-13 March 2021, packing onto our virtual van 16 students and 25 total entries in 9 events, including in Policy Debate, Parliamentary Debate, Congress, Impromptu speaking, Informative speaking, Persuasive (Oratory) speaking, Prose interpretation, After-Dinner Speaking (ADS), and Radio Commentary. Reynolds High School achieved the following results:

1st Place in Policy (CX) Debate (STATE QUALIFIERS!): juniors Destiny Tran and Jeff Cervantes Mendoza

3rd Place in Parliamentary Debate (Alternate to State): junior Hayden Grindle and senior Simon Gerbaud (on foreign exchange from France)

3rd Place in Policy (CX) Debate (Alternate to State): juniors Amaya Benitez and Isabel Pagan

Finalists in Impromptu speaking: juniors Hayden Grindle and Jeff Cervantes Mendoza (6th and 7th place out of 14 students)

Finalist in Prose interpretation: freshman Michael Gray

Following recognition of the student finalists and state qualifiers, Coach Valerie Schiller was recognized as Mt. Hood Conference Coach of the Year 2020-2021. Particularly in two years of turmoil and uncertainty, Ms. Schiller was extremely proud of the hard work her students put in.

The team returned to in-person practices in Fall 2021 but continued virtual competitions for the majority of the year. Fall 2021 saw two first place PUDL trophies from co-captains Destiny Tran and Jeff Cervantes. The team broke into OSAA tournaments in the winter with a 1st Place Parli speaker award, 3rd Place After-Dinner Speech, 1st Place LIELL speech, finalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Quarterfinalists in Junior Parliamentary Debate.

Our team events throughout the year expanded into community service activities, a Showcase & Fundraising Night, and lunchtime Jeopardy games.

Finally, in 2022, our first in-person competitions in over two years happened. The first was a PUDL tournament hosted at Reynolds High School in February and the second was the OSAA Mt. Hood Conference District Competition at Sandy High School in March. Our team had the most successful Districts participation yet, with 34 entries total, spanning 13 events. Reynolds High School achieved the following results:

1st Place in LIELL (STATE QUALIFIER!):
sophomore Dina Ibrahim

2nd Place in Extemporaneous Speaking (STATE QUALIFIER!): senior Hayden Grindle

2nd Place in Impromptu Speaking (STATE QUALIFIER!): senior Jeff Cervantes

3rd Place in Poetry Reading (Alternate to State):
senior Destiny Tran

4th Place in Original Oratory (a.k.a. Persuasive Speaking) (Alternate to State):
senior Destiny Tran

3rd Place in Informative Speaking (Alternate to State): freshman Edmond Miranda

3rd Place in Policy Debate (Alternates to State):

senior Thien Jacobo Nguyen and sophomore Dina Ibrahim

 
RHS won our first trophy of the new era: 3rd Place Sweepstakes at Districts 2022.

Our team also had the honor of earning two Student Congress entries to join us at the State Championships. Furthermore, the team was fortunate enough to be able to advance nearly all alternates to state qualification.

Reynolds High School Speech & Debate Team brought a total of seven members to compete at the OSAA State Championships at Western Oregon University April 21-23:
Jeff Cervantes (Impromptu Speaking)
Isaias Damian (Student Congress)

Hayden Grindle (Extemporaneous Speaking)

Dina Ibrahim (Literary Interpretation for ELL)

Isabel Pagan (Student Congress)

Destiny Tran (Original Oratory)

At our first trip to State, Reynolds was successful:
Dina Ibrahim earned the 2nd Place Champion medal in Literary Interpretation for ELL with the speech "Your Mental Health: A Layman's Guide to the Psychiatrist's Bible"; and
Destiny Tran advanced to semi-finals in Original Oratory with the speech "Ovary-Acting."

2022-2023 had our highest number of student participants yet. We began the year with hosting a Portland Urban Debate League tournament for nearly 80 people. By the end of the year, the team had served a grand total of 110 Reynolds High School students through all school events, with 34 student competitors having attended at least one tournament, 18 students having competed at 2-3 tournaments per semester, and 9 students having competed at the majority of tournaments. In total, 8 students qualified in OSAA to compete at State:

Senior Isaias Damian (Original Oratory)
Senior Huy Nguyen & Tristin Fox (Parliamentary Debate)

Senior Samantha Higbee (Impromptu)
Sophomore Seryca Monroe (After-Dinner Speaking)

Senior Ty Brintnall (Dramatic Interpretation)

Sophomore Sayfidin Zafarov (Literary Interpretation for ELL)

Junior Kane Finders (Student Congress)

with alternates:

Juniors Kane Finders and Dina Ibrahim (Policy Debate)

and

Freshmen Ethan Moore and Jacob Arellano
(Duo Interpretation)

State results were similar to our first trip the prior year: Sophomore Sayfidin Zafarov earned 4th Place in Literary Interpretation for English Language Learners;
Senior Isaias Damian advanced to semi-finals in Original Oratory with the speech "Dog Whistle Politics."

Most importantly, February 11, 2023 marked Reynolds High School's first OSAA hosted tournament "The Reynolds Invitational" with more than 20 high schools from around Oregon in attendance on campus. See separate tab "The Reynolds Invitational."

The 2023-2024 school year saw our numbers double to more than 20 regularly attending members of practice and tournaments. Unexpectedly and tragically, we lost a new team member Ryan Rutledge to a family car crash in October. In his memory, we renamed our hosted OSAA tournament in February the Ryan Rutledge Invitational, with an outstanding record of 35 schools in attendance. A grand total of 25% of the proceeds ($1,500) went to the Oregon Humane Society, the Rutledge extended family's choice of charitable contribution.

Beyond membership numbers, our team accomplished a number of records in the 2023-2024 school year. Our tournament was the second largest in the state, only after Oregon City High School; we raised our fundraising efforts by 300% for our ASB account dollars; we attended our first overnight team tournament at University of Oregon; we went on our first field trip (of many, we hope!) to the Oregon State Capitol; we hosted the Mt. Hood Conference Districts for the first time, during which we took home for the first time the 2nd place Sweepstakes trophy; we earned a record number of debate state qualifying teams at Districts; we earned our first competitive OSAA State champion--Seryca Monroe, 2nd Place in After-Dinner Speaking (ADS)--and we earned our first two grants, the first for $1,000 from the Reynolds Education Foundation and the second for $10,000 from the OSAA Foundation. Funds will be going to recruitment materials, to equipment to help novices meet the competitive levels of their peers around the state, to individual event and debate preparation materials, to maximize decor and engagement in our school fundraising events, and for long-term structures such as a bulletin board to highlight our achievements and our connection to alumni and community members.

In 2024-2025, the team maintained a steady 30 regularly attending members. We began to grow a student leadership team and transition toward more students teaching students. The year shined with a record number of novice members and immediate tournament wins. The team was able to return to take the Oregon State Capitol by storm! Unfortunately, a winter storm made hosting the Ryan Rutledge Invitational a challenge: we reduced the competition to two practice rounds for all participants. Students were glad to have more experience before Districts and Nat Quals! By the time districts rolled around, the team earned a record number of qualifications for the State Championships, in particular a record number of 1st Place awards. We took a much closer second place at Districts than ever before. For the first time, the team had to take a full school bus of students to the State Championships, with 15 students qualifying for 13 different speech and debate events (more than twice we have ever had). By the end of the school year, all OSAA grant items were in, and the team anticipates a lot of fun and learning using the items next school year.

We look forward to an even more successful year in 2025-2026. Please see the last tab of the home screen for ways you can support the team. Go Raiders!