This week, Falcon’s Flyer interviewed the members of the Saint Philip’s novice speech team. Speech is a free after school activity that students participate in to exercise public speaking. Members of the team choose a piece to perform and have practice once a week after school. They compete twice a year at city wide competitions. The novice speech and debate team consists of Noelle Chua, Joshua Co, Quentin Guzman, Caroline Mitchell, Andrea Velandia, and Madison Chase, all fifth grade students. Madison, Joshua, Quentin, Caroline, and Andrea all competed in storytelling. Noelle competed in poetry. They showed school spirit by attending the competition at La Salle High School in October. They all said that they planned to compete again at the next tournament. They were advised and hand-selected by Mrs. Gripp, the 1st through 5th grade science teacher. The students spent four weeks preparing for the competition. All of the team members said that they were nervous during the competition. When asked about their performances, most thought they did pretty well. Joshua Co said; “I think I did well. My first time [performing for the judges] wasn’t as good, but the last [time] was the best because I went slower and pronounced the words better.” The students were excited and willing to volunteer and compete again in the spring.