Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 501 S. Sapodilla Ave, WPB, FL 33401

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Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 501 S. Sapodilla Ave, WPB, FL 33401

THE MUSE

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 501 S. Sapodilla Ave, WPB, FL 33401

THE MUSE

Speech and Debate Team Excels at Emory

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Courtesy of Alex Gordon
Communications sophomore Alex Gordon (L-R) stands with social studies teacher and assistant debate coach Melissa Gifford after the awards ceremony at Emory University’s Barkley Forum tournament on Jan. 31. Gordon received fifth place overall in Congressional Debate. “If Dreyfoos goes again, I definitely hope to attend,” Gordon said. “It is a great tournament and I would love to improve on my performance.”

Emory University is usually full of college students, but from Jan. 29 to Jan. 31 the campus was crowded with hundreds of professionally dressed high-schoolers for the annual Barkley Forum speech and debate tournament. Eleven Dreyfoos students traveled to Atlanta to compete in the tournament, and six of them received awards.

Communications juniors Jack Yan and Michael Wang were quarterfinalists in Extemporaneous Speaking, communications junior Jake Perl was a quarterfinalist in Original Oratory, and in Congressional Debate, communications sophomore Maya Levkovitz was a semifinalist, communications senior Taylor Rich was a finalist, and communications sophomore Alex Gordon placed fifth overall.

“[When I won the award] my reaction was ‘I can’t believe that just happened’ because I was hoping to reach the final round of the tournament, but placing fifth far exceeded my expectations,” Gordon said. “I didn’t think my performance in the final round was strong enough to get fifth, but a few of the judges thought otherwise and I got lucky.”

Gordon noticed immense improvement in his performance since last year’s Emory tournament, at which he did not advance out of the preliminary rounds. This year, Gordon advanced from preliminary rounds to semifinals, and then onto finals where he was awarded fifth place.

“I spent a lot of time preparing for the tournament, hours upon hours,” Gordon said. “I can’t give an exact number, but my prepping began a week before the tournament and went right up until the lunch before the second half of the final round.”

A lot of the students who competed, including Gordon, found this tournament to be more difficult than others. Many schools come to compete from all over the country.

“This tournament is definitely one of the most challenging ones throughout the year,” communications junior Jake Perl said. “There is a huge chance that you could be in the same room as a national champion at basically any given time, which is really exciting.”

Perl found that his biggest challenge was when he was competing against some of his good friends, while Gordon found balancing sleep and preparation to be the most challenging part of the tournament.

“My favorite part of the tournament was seeing my friends from other states and areas who I don’t normally get to see,” Gordon said. “Getting fifth was also pretty cool.”

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About the Contributor
Emma Baldinger, Assistant Managing Editor
Communications senior Emma Baldinger is one of the Assistant Managing Editors of The Muse, and it is her third year on the publication. Baldinger is very dedicated to the organization A Prom to Remember, as the Event Coordinator of the Dreyfoos chapter. When she is not editing stories for The Muse or college essays for her friends, Baldinger enjoys speech and debate and checking The New York Times more than she checks her Twitter. Baldinger loves journalism and is so excited for another year with the incredible staff of The Muse.
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