April 22, 2004

Prolific Leland Speech and Debate Team to compete in California state tournament
Several orators hopeful of national recognition

By Justin Petersen
Staff writer

Nobody argue with a Leland student. Nearly one-quarter of the student body is trained in the terrifying and ancient art of public speaking. The Leland Speech and Debate team boasts more than 300 members yearning to wield their voices, haranguing on topics from world history to modern politics, often including doses of humor.

For most, public speaking skills come with hard work and dedication. For Leland Speech and Debaters, successful discourse means weeks and months of practice in debate coach Gay Brasher's J-5 classroom tournament upon tournament of local competition, and, for the few and the proud, an annual California High School Speech Association Tournament beginning this year on April 29 at Diablo Valley College in Pleasanton.

Those who qualify will move on to the national tournament held in Boston at the end of May.

This weekend, however, 37 Leland orators will travel to Pleasanton, where they'll compete in 12 different categories, ranging from a more formal congress debate format to the opposite spectrum of performance-based recitations such as humorist and duo interpretation.

Over the years, Leland has amassed an impressive reputation, ranked as the No. 1 speech and debate program in California off and on throughout the decade. And, last year Leland's Pradeep Hathur took the state championship in the humorist event, mounting lofty expectations for the 2003-2004 Chargers to live up to.

According to Leland Speech and Debate president Anthony Wee, this year's team will not disappoint.

“This is a very motivated and hardworking group,” said Wee of his teammates. “We developed a motto at the beginning of the year and we've stuck to it: ‘Outwit, Outspeak, Outwest.'”

The motto reflects a cowboy theme inside the team's practice facilities in Ms. Brasher's classroom, in addition to a helpful reminder in the heat of debate.

Wee felt particularly confident about the Chargers' potential in the duo interpretation event.

“Juniors Iqwak Bhurji and Yue Tu haven't lost all year long,” said Wee, of the talented twosome. “They are very talented, have great blocking technique and great physical comedy. They're highly energetic and, basically, really funny guys.”

Bhurji and Tu are set to perform a routine called “The Big Bang,” dealing with the history of mankind, ironically, from creation until the present.

In addition, Wee and his partner, fellow senior Gloria Lin, are scheduled to perform their own duo interpretation, stemming from a piece of published literature cut down into an eight to 10 minute showcase.