Bryson and Brianna Hone take 3rd at ‘Titan Terror’

On Oct. 26, the Morgan High School Speech and Debate team went to their first open tournament of the year.

Kids sacrificed their time to prepare and participate in these tournaments. Preparation for these events started about a month ago.

The team competed against multiple schools and participated in many different events. This competition was a special one, being a Halloween themed tournament.

It’s normal to find competitors dressed in absolute formal attire for these tournaments, but not for Titan Terror. 

In the spirit of Halloween, each competitor could dress up as a character, and in some cases, debate as that character.

Kids from Morgan dressed up as characters such as Maleficent, Donald Trump, Meagan, Smokey the Bear, World War II veterans and others.

Whether you were there to debate as that character or if you just wanted to dress up, all were welcome. 

All topics and prompts were Halloween themed, and judges were invited to dress up too.

Students laughed at impressions, mannerisms, and funny costumes that the other competitors had created.

A total of 11 participants from Morgan went to the tournament to participate. Eight kids competed, and three adults volunteered to judge.

Bryson and Brianna Hone took 3rd place in character spar and novice impromptu respectively.

The tournament lasted the entire day, taking about 11 hours to finish. Competitors woke up and left by 7 a.m to get to Syracuse High School. 

The team started their first round at 8:30 a.m. Each round lasts about two hours with 30 minute breaks in between.

With a total of four rounds, the students were exhausted. In the break after the second round,

pizza was brought in for each competitor and could be bought for $1.

This simple food was enough to lift everybody’s spirits and prepare them for the next two rounds.

After the four rounds of competition were over, the waiting began. It took a long time to calculate the results before deciding who the winners were.

Finally, the competitors could go home to rest after a short awards ceremony. These mental workouts are tough on all competitors, both young and old.

“I was brain tired, but I had a rush of energy seeing the people of our team,” said Brianna Hone, a freshman competitor. “I had so much fun all throughout the night. The bus ride back to the school is always my favorite because of all the fun and awesome energy the team has.”

Even after the brutal mental stress of a tournament, the team still sang, played games and laughed the whole ride back. λ