Essentials of Extemp

Teacher

Samuel Ma

Hi everyone! I’m Samuel Ma, a rising sophomore on the Bellarmine Speech and Debate Team which won the California State Championship for the past three years. I’ve competed in speech and debate for 5+ years. In 2023, I was the California Middle School Extemp State Champion. I also placed in the top three in the nation in Extemp. I primarily compete in Extemp and Impromptu at the high school level. At the 2024 California High School State Championship Tournament, I was semifinalist in National Extemp. I was also a finalist at the Stanford 2024 Invitational in Varsity Extemp as well. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience with all of you! Besides that, I enjoy learning about economics and politics in my free time.

Teacher

Vedant Hathalia

Hey everyone! I’m Vedant Hathalia, a freshman on the Bellarmine Speech and Debate Team. I’ve competed in 93 tournaments all across the nation in speech and debate for 5+ years. I have coached Speech and Debate before, and hope to share my experiences so every one of you not only win tournaments, but learns a valuable life skill! I have competed in Public Forum, Policy Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu, and Congressional Debate at both the middle school and high school level. At MS tournaments, I rank 3rd in the state in Impromptu and Public Forum, and 4th in the state in Extemp, winning tournaments such as the Berkeley Invitational, and being the top seed in tournaments like the Middle School Tournament of Champions. Amongst high schoolers, I have ranked 3rd in Extemp and 2nd in Congressional Debate in the most competitive league in the State. Most recently, I qualified and competed in the State Tournament for Congressional Debate.

Teacher

Angel Song

Hi! My name is Angel and I am a rising sophomore at Harvard-Westlake School. I’ve been doing speech and debate for six years, with experience mainly in extemporaneous speaking and world schools debate, although I have participated in other events including Lincoln-Douglas and spontaneous argumentation throughout middle and high school. As a freshman, I qualified for NSDA Nationals, TOC, and NIETOC in international extemporaneous speaking, and championed in both extemporaneous speaking and world schools debate at the 2023 13th Annual California Middle School State Championship after reaching the top five at 2022 NSDA MS Nationals for mixed extemporaneous speaking. I look forward to enlightening the next generation of speech and debate!