With the Hollister School District creating a Migrant Speech & Debate Team for the first time this year, coaches and staff came away from the group’s first tournament proud of the students and excited for continued progress.
Coaches lauded efforts by all the team members and those who took part in the Regional Migrant Speech and Debate Tournament held March 7 at Salinas High School. Three students—Hollister Dual Language Academy sixth-grader Alondra Castaneda, HDLA seventh-grader Elizabeth Gonzalez and Rancho San Justo Middle School eighth-grader Diego Mares Sandoval—advanced to the state tournament that will take place in May at Monterey High School.
District Coordinator of Special Projects Jill Camron made the announcement while congratulating the students and coaches—Jacob Oates and Irma Gomez—who have been preparing the competitors since January.
“Seeing the kids at the tournament, it was just really heartwarming how they supported one another,” Camron said. “They walked away feeling proud of themselves and all the work they had done.”
Camron explained how the new team came together mid-year, which meant the Hollister team members and coaches were not only new to this experience, but also had a later start compared with other schools. There were about 50 schools in total taking part in the recent tournament, including middle and high school teams.
Camron said she believes this is the district’s first time with such a team. She recalled reaching out to regional organizers to request funds for this program, noting how Hollister High School also has a speech and debate team and encouraged HSD participation as well.
With the funding help, the district hired Oates and Gomez, who collaborated with Camron to get the team up and running.
Camron pointed out that the Monterey County Office of Education coordinates the regional tournament, which includes teams from Santa Clara County to Pajaro Valley. As for the Hollister School District, there are 35 team members with 10 participating in the recent tournament, as the competition part is optional for students.
This year, students were given the theme of Artificial Intelligence and tasked with taking a stance on the subject in their speeches based on research. They had two rounds of prepared speaking in the morning and then two rounds in the afternoon focused on a writing prompt they were not aware of beforehand.
Camron praised district officials like Superintendent Erika Sanchez and Director of Educational Services Dr. Colleen Myers for their support, and the teachers for their efforts as first-time speech coaches.
It was quite a long day for participants who had the option of doing speeches in English or Spanish—8am-8pm not including travel—with most being English learners.
Oates, who is assigned to Rancho San Justo Middle School, had two students take part in the tournament itself. He meets with students in his cohort on Mondays and Tuesdays for about an hour after school. He said he was proud of the students for stepping up.
“Whether they did or did not make the finals, I thought our students did a fantastic job,” Oates said. “These kids went in as total underdogs and still did their thing. They gave very good speeches.”
He thought the group as a whole did well considering it was a new experience for all involved. He already started talking with Camron about how they can approach next school year.
Gomez, who teaches at HDLA, emphasized that all team members deserve credit for taking part and witnessed their confidence grow in a short time.
“This was such an incredible feat,” Gomez said. “Although coaches had limited prior training and the district had little experience with speech and debate competitions, both coaches and students demonstrated a strong willingness to learn and adapt. This invaluable experience became a learning process that helped build foundational knowledge and capacity for future participation.”
Gomez was assigned HDLA students along with four from Maze Middle School and one from Accelerated Achievement Academy. Like Oates, she had no idea what she was getting into until it started. Eight of her students signed up for the tournament.
She highlighted that the students received no external incentives—such as academic credit or scholarships—and instead chose to participate in order to grow personally and make their families proud.
“I can’t even fully wrap my head around it,” she said. “I’m so proud of them.”
