And the winners are...

Yareli Vargas, Yvonne Dorantes, Carolina Mundo, Daniel Santos, Adriana Vargas, Diego Vargas, and Kevin Navarro, among many others.

More than 100 migrant students, grades 6 through 12, from 20 schools throughout Monterey County had a chance to sharpen their oral skills at a speech and debate tournament that took place Saturday, March 26. Yareli, Yvonne, Carolina, Daniel, Adriana, Diego and Kevin took first place in the speech competition in their grade and language categories.

Organized by the Monterey County Office of Education’s Migrant Education program, the event took place at Salinas High School. Teams of five students debated on topics assigned and improvised, and they needed to be prepared to defend both sides of the argument.

“That’s part of the exercise, to be able to understand the argument and make the case for both sides,” said event organizer Robin Cohen.

It was exciting to see how good the students were, Cohen said.

“And the ones who weren’t, how bold they were,” she said. “This is not like in a classroom, where you’re forced. This is an optional ability, and they were taking a big risk when it’s outside of their territory.”

Students prepare after school and during their lunch hours. Acquiring the ability to speak in public is a great asset in general, but for the migrant community, is an act of advocacy, Cohen said.

“In elementary school the curriculum is so heavily prescriptive, there’s not a lot of time for delving into issues.”

The winners of the high school debate were Soledad High in English and Alisal High in Spanish, in middle school North Monterey County Middle School in English.