On 9/13, AAIA held the 2025 Lions Speech & Debate Invitational! Attending students competed in modified public forum debate, impromptu speaking, as well as persuasive speaking. Over the course of the day, the students engaged with a variety of interesting topics, including the limits and importance of free speech, the efficacy of a four-day work week, whether AI that mimics human emotion does more harm than good, and the prioritization of national security and individual privacy in the digital age. All students should be proud of the work they put into their speeches on these complex topics. In addition to thanking G11 Anca Li and G11 Jazlyn Shen on organizing and facilitating the day’s events, we would also like to thank Mr. Travis Trojan and Mr. Ebon Pinson for managing and overseeing the debate and speech events respectively, Ms. Betty Deng for providing opening remarks, and especially Mr. Andrew Valencia, Mr. Fred Chang, and Ms. Jacqueline Miao for being our guest debate judges!
Please join us in congratulating the following students for placing in the speech & debate events:
1st Place in Debate: G12 Ryan Hsiao & G11 Andrew Song
2nd Place in Debate: G8 Hannah Liao, G8 Erica Tang & G7 Sean Liao
3rd Place in Debate: G9 Ashley Chen, G8 Seana Wan & G8 Jacqueline Huang
1st Place in Impromptu Speech: G12 Ishan Mukhopadhyaya
2nd Place in Impromptu Speech: G9 Daisy Tsai
3rd Place in Impromptu Speech: G8 Joey Lin
1st Place in Persuasive Speech: G11 Byron Li
2nd Place in Persuasive Speech: G7 Jasper Hsieh
3rd Place in Persuasive Speech: G9 Daisy Tsai
