Migrant education winners get ready for state competition

Monterey County winners from last month's Migrant education speech and debate competition are getting ready for the state championship, which will take place May 13 - 15 in Fresno.

Gonzales High and North Monterey High were first place winners of debate in English. Alisal High won in debate in Spanish. Gavilan View Middle School won debate in English.

In speech categories in English, Ivan Bermudez of North Monterey High won 1st place in the prepared category and Martin Aguirre of Everett Alvarez High won 1st place in extemporaneous category.

In speech categories in Spanish, Alma Martinez of Gonzales High won first place for prepared speech, and Nancy Ramirez of Alisal High won for extemporaneous speech.

This is just a sampling of the winners. Participants came from schools all over the Salinas Valley, you can find a complete list of the winner here.

Students will spend the next month reviewing the feedback given during the tournament to refine their skills in preparation for competition in May, educators say. Trustees with the North Monterey County Unified School District recognized its winners during the April 7 board meeting.

The Monterey County Office of Education's Migrant Education Program serves the largest migrant population in the state of California. The 2016 Regional Speech & Debate Tournament was held March 12th at Salinas High School. Approximately 200 students in grades 6 to 12 competed in speech and debate in English and Spanish.

Congratulations to all the winners! You make Monterey County proud!

North Monterey County Migrant Ed Speech and Debate winners

Montrey County seeks judges for speech and debate tournaments

The Migrant Education Program of the Monterey County Office of Education is seeking volunteers to serve as judges for two upcoming speech and debate tournaments.

Volunteers do not need to have previous experience in speech and debate. Bilingual skills are helpful, although not mandatory.

Judges must commit to attending one of two scheduled training sessions:

March 12 (5:30 pm – 8:30 pm)
March 16 (5:30 pm – 8:30 pm)

Both training sessions will be held at the Monterey County Office of Education, 901 Blanco Circle, Salinas.

The tournaments will be held:

March 21 (8:00 am – 5:00 pm) Regional Tournament at Salinas High School
May 16 (8:00 am – 5:00 pm) State Tournament at Monterey High School

The tournaments give students a opportunity to practice the skills they've learned in the classroom and grow from them. Students research topics and practice after school to prepare. 

Anyone interested in serving as a judge should contact Summer Prather-Smith at (831) 206-4448 or Robin Cohen at (831) 261-9694.

Hartnell students talk a good talk

Kudos to the Hartnell College Speech Team, which had its best showing in the team’s history on at the Mustang Invitational Tournament last month, held at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton.

The team was among 18 schools from three states; schools included Rice University, Colorado College, and the University of San Diego.

Team members earned several individual awards, including:

· Adrian Flores- 1st place Novice Poetry Interpretation and 3rd place Novice Dramatic Interpretation
· Lourdes Tinajero- 1st place Novice Prose Interpretation, Top Novice Dramatic Duo Interpretation
· Chris Rendon- Top Novice Program of Oral Interpretation, Top Novice Dramatic Duo Interpretation
· Victoria Garcia- 3rd place, Open Communication Analysis
· Meritzy Ayala- 3rd place, Novice Informative Speaking
· Sarina Atkins- 6th place, Novice Informative Speaking

The individual results secured the squad a 3rd place overall team trophy, only the second time the Hartnell Speech Team has scored high enough in a combined team effort to earn such an award. The team award is a cumulative score based on individual performances. The team is heading to UC Berkeley on December 6 and 7, 2014 for their next competition.

Good luck in Berkeley, chic@s!

Monterey County migrant students debate and speech winners

UPDATE: An earlier version of this blog contained erroneous information about the winners of the high school extemporaneous speech.

The talent of Monterey County students was in full force this weekend, not only in the science competition, where Carmel freshman Ailis Dooner took top honors, but also at the migrant education speech and debate contest, where about 200 students demonstrated their oratory skills.

As one of the judges in the speech competition, I was impressed: these young men and women are poised, articulate, and dedicated. They came prepared with one speech and had to write a second speech on the spot. They overcame the nerves that were obviously eating them up and delivered their speeches with confidence. Not everyone won, of course, but in my book, they all shinning stars in Monterey County's firmament.

Here's a list of the winners

DEBATE COMPETITION:

High school, English

1^st place: North Monterey County High

2^nd place: North Salinas High

3^rd place: Salinas High School

High school, Spanish

1^st: Soledad High

2^nd: King City High

3^rd: Alisal High

Middle School, English

1^st: Chualar School

2^nd: North Monterey County Middle School

3^rd: Chalone Peaks Middle School

SPEECH COMPETITION

ENGLISH

High School, prepared speech,

1^st: Yvonne Dorantes, Notre Dame High

2^nd: Yareli Vargas, Soledad High

3^rd: Carolina Mundo, Alisal High

High School, extemporaneous speech

1^st: Yareli Vargas, Soledad High and Yvonne Dorantes, Notre Dame High

2^nd: Alondra Catalan, Soledad High

MIDDLE SCHOOL, Prepared speech

1^st: Marlyn Sanchez, El Sausal

2^nd: Everly Arce, Fairview

3^rd: Alexa Pena, Fairview

Middle School, extemporaneous

1^st: Marlyn Sanchez, El Sausal

2^nd Adriana Vargas, Main Street

3^rd: Maximino Jardines, El Sausal

6^th Grade, prepared

1^st: Getsemini Puga, Gabilan Elementary

2^nd: Veronica Gutierrez, Chualar

3^rd: Esmeralda Rivera, Oscar Loya

6^th Grade, extemporaneous speech

1^st: Paulina Quintero, Frank Paul

2^nd: Abel Pacheco, Cesar Chavez

3^rd: Esmeralda Rivera, Oscar Loya

SPANISH

Middle School, prepared speech

1^st: Yesenia Aguilar, Vista Verde

2^nd: Aldair Merlin, Vista Verde

3^rd: Mayra Calderon, Chalone Peaks

Middle School, extemporaneous

1^st: Maritza Villanueva, Chalone Peaks

2^nd: Rosalba Vasquez, Vista Verde

3^rd: Mayra Oliveros, Chalone Peaks

6^th Grade, prepared speech

1^st: Omar Vega, Fremont Elementary

2^nd: Luis Alvarez, Alisal Community

3^rd: Tania Diaz Rangel, Martin Luther King

6^th Grade, extemporaneous

1^st: Gilberto Vargas, Martin Luther King

2^nd: Ana Huerta, Steinbeck

3^rd: Luis Alvarez, Alisal Community