Clear Lake debate students earn top honors

The Speech and Debate Team from Clear Lake High School excelled in two recent competitions.

Clear Lake speech and debate students competed at the 18th annual Bay City High School TFA/UIL invitational speech and debate competition on Dec. 3 and 4 against 23 schools from across the state.

The varsity cross-examination debate team of Kiersten Strachan and Michael McGraw won first place. Kiersten also placed third overall in extemporaneous speaking. Sophomores Ben Price and Raymond MacLean won third in varsity cross-examination debate. Freshman Muhammad Mazhari placed third in novice Lincoln Douglas debate, and Darienne Hartman advanced to the finals and placed first in poetry interpretation.

The team also competed at the Clear Brook High School Holiday Christmas Classic TFA/UIL invitational speech and debate competition the weekend of Dec. 10 and 11, featuring 25 schools from across the state.

Clear Lake was represented by 23 speech and debate students who won their first sweepstakes trophy of the year, placing third overall. The varsity cross-examination debate team of Albert Yau and Shree Deshpande won third place. Shree also placed second in foreign extemporaneous speaking. Sophomore Romil Patel won third in domestic extemporaneous speaking. Coveted state points were garnered in these events as well. Muhammad Mazhari placed third in novice extemporaneous speaking. Darienne Hartman advanced to the finals and placed second in poetry interpretation, and William Wu won a third-place speaker award in Lincoln Douglas debate.

Students are focused on earning state qualifying points for the competition in Flower Mound, Texas, in March 2011. Martha Anne Pierson serves as debate coach and Kelly Glos sponsors the team.