Speech and Debate Team students qualify for state, national tournaments
Several students of Los Gatos and Saratoga High School’s Speech and Debate Team have qualified for well-renowned state and national tournaments taking place this spring.
Competing against both public and private school students, all competitors have placed in the top of their local and regional events in order to advance.
In addition, Saratoga High School’s Speech and Debate Coach Steve Clemmons was inducted into the California High School Speech Association Hall of Fame. Clemmons has been coaching Speech and Debate at Saratoga High School since 2009.
The following students placed in the Tournament of Champions, held at the University of Kentucky on April 15-17:
• Timothy Leung (Saratoga High School), fifth place Finalist in Dramatic Interpretation and eighth place Semifinalist in Program Oral Interpretation Speech,
• Kinnera Potluri (Saratoga High School), 10th place Semifinalist, Humorous Interpretation Speech
• Cameron Nguyen (Saratoga High School), 14th place in Humorous Interpretation Speech
• Leonardo Jia and Ashish Goswami (Saratoga High School), Octofinalist in Public Forum Gold Debate
• Arnav Garg (Saratoga High School), Top 20 Speakers Award and Octofinalist in Lincoln Douglas Debate
• Zachary Benitez (Los Gatos High School), Quarterfinalist, Original Oratory
With more than 300 schools throughout the state participating, the California High School Speech Association State Championship took place April 21-23 in Carlsbad. Local students placing were:
• Timothy Leung (Saratoga High School), first place State Champion in Program Oral Interpretation Speech
• Kinnera Potluri (Saratoga High School), sixth place State Finalist in Humorous Interpretation Speech
• Zachary Benitez (Los Gatos High School), Semifinalist, Original Oratory
• Alix Kerebel (Los Gatos High School), 10th place State Finalist, Congress
• Cameron Nguyen (Saratoga High School), qualifier in Humorous Interpretation Speech
The National Individual Events Tournament of Champions is an annual national tournament that will host some of the best competitors from around the country this May in Minnesota. Featuring competitions in humor, drama and informative, to name a few, students qualify after attaining two bids after advancing to late elimination rounds at local and state-level tournaments.
Local qualifiers are:
• Timothy Leung (Saratoga High School) in Program Oral Interpretation and Dramatic Interpretation Speech
• Kinnera Potluri (Saratoga High School) in Humorous Interpretation Speech
• Zachary Benitez (Los Gatos High School) in Original Oratory
The National Catholic League Grand National Tournament will be held over Memorial Day Weekend in Louisville, Ky.
Local qualifiers are:
• Skyler Mao and Anthony Luo (Saratoga High School) in Public Forum Debate
• Arjun Raje and Vidur Sanghi (Saratoga High School) in Public Forum Debate
The 2023 National Speech & Debate Tournament will be held at Phoenix, Ariz. from June 11-16. With less than 4% of student members qualifying to compete in this national tournament, Saratoga High School will send Kinnera Potluri and Timothy Leung.
Both the Los Gatos and Saratoga High School Speech and Debate Teams are an after-school, extra-curricular activity designed to build communication skills. Practices are held during the week where students develop their public speaking, debating and acting skills.
Volunteers needed for free dental clinic
The Santa Clara County Dental Foundation is sponsoring Silicon Valley Healthy Smiles, which is a free dental clinic May 20-21 at the San Jose Convention Center.
Dentists, hygienists, dental assistants, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, EMTs, interpreters and community volunteers are needed to help with this undertaking.
“We’ll have 100 dental chairs set up for patients, which allows us to see thousands of people for cleanings, extractions, cavities and other simple procedures,” Dr. Lotus Mahon said. “But we need hundreds of volunteers to make it happen.”
Mahon is a Los Gatos resident and member of the Santa Clara County Dental Foundation.
She said donations are needed, too, since the clinic costs approximately $400,000 to stage.
“We’ve raised about $300,000 so far,” she said. “Our generous donors recognize that this is a critical service since so many people don’t have access to affordable dental care.”
Volunteers and donors can visit SCCDF.org/SVHS for information.
Emery awarded degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic
John Emery of Los Gatos graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic’s West Campus in San Jose on March 24.
Palmer College of Chiropractic, the first and largest college in the chiropractic profession, has campuses in Davenport, Iowa; San Jose; and Port Orange, Fla.
