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Recent Monte Vista High graduate Brian Yu won the title in the United States Extemporaneous Speaking category at the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Dallas, Texas earlier this month.
“Winning a national championship is the most prestigious honor a student involved in speech and debate can achieve,” said J. Scott Wunn, executive director of the National Speech & Debate Association. “We are extremely proud of Brian Yu for this outstanding accomplishment.”
Yu received a $1,000 college scholarship for winning. He graduated from Monte Vista this month and plans to attend Harvard University in the fall.
Over 100,000 middle and high school students from around the country compete in the debate invitational, which dates back to 1931, organizers said. Students must perform well in district and regional tournaments in order to be invited to the national competition.
In the Extemporaneous Speaking category, participants have 30 minutes to develop a seven-minute speech on a particular topic in current affairs.
There are two divisions within the category: international extemporaneous and national extemporaneous. In both, the students must gather evidence from articles with relevant information prior to the tournament in order to establish their case during the event.
In the final round of the US Extemporaneous category, Yu went up against five students from other schools across the nation. Yu did not win the round, but his combination of scores from the prior 12 rounds resulted in him claiming the national title.
Yu was an experienced speech and debate competitor at Monte Vista, serving as president of the speech and debate team this year after being vice president during the 2013-14 school year. He was the state champion in National Extemporaneous Speaking in 2013 and 2014, and was a national finalist in the Extemporaneous Speaking category in 2014.
“Brian Yu represents everything this program stands for,” said team coach David Matley. “Winning nationals was the perfect way to cap a phenomenal speech and debate career at Monte Vista, which included three state titles in National Extemporaneous and a fifth-place finish at last year’s national tournament.”
Monte Vista’s speech and debate team boasts over 30 state titles and is nearing its 10th national title, according to school district officials.
Matley has led the team since 1989, coaching most of the state and national champions that have made their way through the program. In 2012, Matley became part of the California High School Speech Association Hall of Fame.
Yu is the fifth Monte Vista student Matley has coached to win the National Speech and Debate Tournament.
Congratulations Brian! Great job! Enjoy your time at Harvard; you’ll do amazing things!
Very impressive! I am sure your success in Speech and Debate will propel you to great success in Cambridge.
Congratulations Brian! My son, Sam, is also very proud of you and has appreciated your mentoring over the years. Best of luck to you.