Advertisement

Gardena High Speech Team Hopes to Talk Its Way to State Title

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

After winning the Los Angeles All District Speech Tournament for the fourth consecutive year, members of the Gardena High School varsity forensic team will compete Saturday to qualify for the California High School Assn. State Tournament.

The 44-member team scored the most points last week, winning the championship in 15 hours of competition against 37 other high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Some students were up all night preparing for the contest.

“It wasn’t a typical tournament at all,” senior Pedro Olmedo, 17, said. “It was extremely stressful. We were all tired. But we knew what we had to do and we pulled ourselves together through team spirit and did it,” he said.

Advertisement

“We were working for that team trophy,”said senior Robin Pelle. “We wanted to win it for Mrs. Paddor.”

Lois Paddor is the team’s speech coach and has been preparing Gardena High School students for speech competitions for 16 years. This year, the National Forensics League, a high school speech honors organization, ranked the team in the top 3% of all high schools in the nation.

“It all goes back to Mrs. Paddor,” said Shelly Ward who won first place in individual competition for her Original Advocacy Speech on child molestation. “She stresses the importance of doing well in competition. She says just have fun and be yourself.”

But Paddor does not take all the credit.

“I’m their coach and their teacher and, hopefully to some, a friend,” she said. “But it comes down to them. They are the bottom line.”

The Gardena High School team has consistently been the largest in the competition since its inception four years ago, Paddor said. The team’s size, talent, know-how and cultural variety, she said, make a winning combination.

“And I think that’s our strength,” Principal Tom Ikeda said. “When I look at all the other schools competing, I find that our rainbow of colors is brighter.”

Advertisement

Members of the team--which includes blacks, Asians, Latinos and whites--tend to agree.

“If you look at our two biggest competitors at the tournament (San Pedro and Sherman Oaks high schools), you will see much less cultural diversity,” said teammate Brian Yamasaki, who is class valedictorian.

Ward said: “We add more flavor to the competition, more interesting topics, and more perspective.”

Senior Sean Bell, 17, wrote a speech in the form of a rap titled “I’m in a Gang,” describing the hazards of being a gang member in South-Central Los Angeles. “I grew up there,” Bell said. “I grew up near some pretty horrible people. . . . Bring that knowledge to people and it gives them some insight into what I have been through,” he said. “And although it affected me, I have survived.”

Bell praises the speech made by teammate Tracy Kobayashi on the life of a Japanese girl after the bombing of Hiroshima.

“She brought a Japanese perspective to her speech,” he said. “That’s what a lot of us do in all of our speeches.”

Saturday, Gardena team members will compete as individuals, attempting to qualify for the state tournament.

Advertisement

How will they do? Paddor said: “Their record speaks for itself.”

Advertisement