West Meets East

P-Russ's recap:

SUBJECT: Gavelin' Eagles just keep winning at West Meets East!!! 🦅🦅🦅

Greetings, all,

We are on our way back from Albuquerque, where we competed at Eldorado High School's first ever speech-and-debate event, the West Meets East Tournament. We had 23 Gavelin' Eagles in attendance, and by gum I guess they haven't gotten tired of winning yet!!!

The whole crew is deserving of a high five or two, but please join me in congratulating the following students on particularly outstanding performances:

• Natashia Anderson, who placed FIRST in Program Oral Interpretation!!! She's BACK!

• Aspyn Kaskalla, who placed FIRST in International Extemporaneous Speaking!!! Aspyn also came in 4th in Program Oral Interpretation!

• Danica Becenti, who placed FIRST in Dramatic Interpretation!!! Danica also came in 6th in Storytelling!

• Sierra Nakai, who placed 2nd and was the Top Novice Speaker in Dramatic Interpretation!

• Kiara Jim, who placed 3rd in Informative Speaking! This event was INSANELY crowded and competitive at this particular tournament. Kiara beat out 25 of the fiercest opps!

• Ayden Redhouse, who placed 5th in Storytelling! Ayden also came in 7th in the very crowded event of U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking!

• Addy Salazar, who placed 6th in Program Oral Interpretation — her first time ever trying the event!

• Josiah Dineyazhe, who placed 7th in the very crowded event of Impromptu! JoJo also placed 9th in U.S. Extemp!

• Taya Hosteen, who was the 3rd highest-ranked novice in Impromptu — at her s&d debut!

• Elise Walker, who was the 5th highest-ranked novice in Impromptu — at her s&d debut!

Major thanks to both of our assistant coaches, Mrs. Kaskalla and Malyssa Egge, for coming out to lend a hand! And to all the other volunteer judges from our community who gave up their time so we could compete today! And to Mary Dickey, who got us there and is getting us back again, safe and sound! And also to Dr. Courtney Lawton, the coach of Eldorado's team — she and her Indigenous culture club, the Skoden Eagles, treated our team to a very special and delicious potluck last night when we got in!

This was our final tournament of 2024, but the season will pick back up again pretty much as soon as Winter Break ends. We have two more normal season competitions to go, and then it's on to the postseason!!!

Best,

Russell