Another Rookie Sensation? BP Speech Expanding in All Directions

The Bronx Prep Speech Team debuted a number of fresh faces at the team's backyard tournament held at Fordham University. Jyeisha Reyes, Marcus Smith, Melanie Nyarko, Marissa Charlemagne, and Monica Lindsay all competed in their first tournament while Matt Alston and Tiffany McLarty made their 09-10 season debuts. Meanwhile, team Manager Chris Moncrief extended his breaking streak by representing the team in the finals of Original Oratory.

Preparing for a speech tournament is hard work and the coach and team officers want to shout out each new competitor for getting up early, getting dressed up, putting it on the line and performing in front of judges and competitors from all over the city. The atmosphere at the tournament was as electric as always and seems to have made an impact on the new speech team members; Marcus, Marissa and Monica have all begun traveling with the team as competition regulars and Jyeisha and Melanie have a coach cutting their own piece for them for next month!

In addition to new faces, the Bronx Prep team added an entire competition event to its repetoire as the Student Congress team also made its debut in the form of Norberto Troncoso, Autumnwind Spear and Monica Linsday. These students became representatives and senators for the day, debating legislation and making speeches. The Congress team learned a lot at Fordham and set some clear goals for themselves as this burgeoning branch of the BP Speech Team continues to grow.

And the hardware? That belonged to Chris Moncrief who surprised no one in the building by appearing in the final round of Oratory. But there's clearly still work to be done - Chris finished out of the top 5 and was recognized as a Finalist.

From humble beginnings and a small squad as recently as last year, this season's Bronx Prep team could regularly be bringing a dozen students to local competitions. If these fresh faces find success like last year's squad... the forensics students in the New York City League may have cause for concern.