Story by Claire Mao
News Editor
Photo by Lucinda Ernst
Staff Photographer
South Pasadena High School hosted its second ever Southern California Debate League (SCDL) Spring Novice Speech on Saturday, Jan. 31 from 8 am to 3 pm.
Students from 19 schools were seen scattered across campus practicing their speeches and performances to classmates and to school walls. SPHS sent 38 competitors and Alhambra sent the most entries to the 2026 Spring Novice Speech competition, entering around 60 competitors.
The Southern California school entries accumulated to around 400 competitors competing in the 15 speech events offered.
Full preparation events (both for Novice and Junior Varsity (JV) competitors) included Humorous/Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Original Oratory/Advocacy, and Declamation. Limited preparation events included Extemporaneous Speaking (Extemp), Spontaneous Argumentation (SPAR) and Impromptu.
Novice/JV differ from Varsity tournaments by varying preparation times for five minute speeches. For instance, Impromptu lets Novice/JV competitors to prep for five minutes while in Varsity level events, competitors receive only two minutes to prep. Furthermore, novice tournaments utilize student judges while Varsity uses parent judges.
SPHS volunteers and students helped open usable classrooms for rounds at around 7 am, with postings on each classroom telling competitors not to enter until the judge arrives. A snack stand was also operated by South Pasadena students, selling water, chips, sodas, cup noodles, and home-baked cookies and cupcakes. In addition, Mexican restaurant Chanos also sold their food to competitors during breaks between rounds.
Ribbons were given out to the top 10 percent and 20 percent of competitors. SPHS received five ribbons: two for the top 10 percent in Impromptu and three for the top 20 percent for SPAR.
“It’s always special and an honor to host a tournament,” SPHS Speech and Debate advisor Chris Herrin said. “I would’ve liked to see more of our school’s competitors perform better but I care more about their experience and the tournament then their results, so as long as students had fun competing and learned something new, then I’m happy.”
The next tournament will be the annual Spring Novice Debate on Friday, Feb. 6, hosted by Woodrow Wilson High School for the first time. Saturday, Feb. 7 will then be the annual Spring Varsity Debate tournament at Shurr High School.