TAF Academy Goes To Stanford
Earlier this month, four TAF Academy students traveled to the Bay Area to compete in the 29th annual Stanford Speech and Debate Tournament. This is a national-level tournament with competitors from over 200 schools from all over the country attending. Seniors Prem Bassi and Corinthas White competed in Duo Interpretation. Senior Larissa Ho competed in Original Oratory. Junior Angelia Miranda competed in both International Extemporaneous and Impromptu Speaking. She advanced to the quarter-final round of Impromptu.
On Friday night at the hotel, I had set two basic rules: 1) No hanging out in the room of the opposite gender (lobby & common areas were okay). 2) Everyone in their room by 10:00 p.m. for the following day of competition. We had a late practice that finished about 9:20. 20 minutes after that, I needed to go to the lobby to get some toothpaste. Anticipating finding the students in the lobby socializing, I was prepared to jokingly reprimand them and remind them to be back in their rooms by 10:00. To my surprise, I found all four students diligently practicing their speeches, implementing suggestions I had made in the earlier practice session. They were so focused on their speeches that they were oblivious to hotel workers, other guests, and even me. It was a heart-warming moment that showed the dedication of these students.
Written by: Andrew Stuckey, TAF Academy Speech Team Coach
The theme for TAF’s 3rd Annual Luncheon is “Celebrate, Inspire, Transform.” As an organization we celebrate the success of our TAF Academy students, inspire through STEM justice, and partner with our community to transform schools. To learn more about the work that we do visit our website.