Gallery • 5 Photos

COURTESY OF GUY RUPPERT

From L to R: Jake Champana, Reynold Finnegan, Dwayne Famenia, Jasmine Varkey, Yanitzy Alatorre, Jaima Murshed and Adrianna Bean (and Diego Serrano, not present in the photo) make up this year’s award winning VNHS JSA Speech and Debate team, taking home seven Best Speaker gavels.

WHO: The VNHS JSA club

WHAT: Won a lot of gavels (awards!)

WHEN: April 6-7

WHERE: SoCal JSA Spring State Convention at the Marriott Woodland Hills

WHY: With hard work, research, determination and unapologetically defending their opinions, these debaters dominated the fierce competition

HOW IT WORKS: JSA, or Junior State of America, is a non-partisan youth organization focused on Speech and Debate and Civic Leadership. Debates are split into “blocks,” ranging in a variety of topics, spanning politics to pop culture. From “Should Trump be able to run for President?” to “What is the worst place for a first date?”, students battled it out to not only convince the audience of their argument, but also to win the coveted “Best Speaker” gavels, awarded to the audience’s favorite speaker of each debate. 

WHO WON: 

Adrianna Bean – 2 Gavels

Jake Champana – 2 Gavels

Jasmine Varkey – 1 Gavel

Dwayne Famenia – 1 Gavel

Jaima Murshed – 1 Gavel

Diego Serrano

Reynold Finnegan

Yanitzy Alatorre