OHS placed third overall in their fight for the Speech and Debate trophy. On Friday, Jan. 20, over 30 Schools gathered at Ritenour high school to compete in the Greater St. Louis conference (GSL) competition.

OHS placed first in congressional debate, second in public speaking, second in debate.

Many students made a great achievement in the overall standings of the conference. Shaun Lamar (12) placed second in Lincoln Douglas debate, first in U.S. extemporaneous, and second in oratory. Aaron Mohabbat (12) and Ryan Westwood (11) placed third in public forum debate and Sohrab Azad (12) placed first in congress.

The GSL conference is a long journey in which the students spend long hours to prepare for their specific topic. The conference was held for six days over a three-month period.

“I personally prepared for the GSL tournament by doing research more than a week before hand. I spent a couple of hours each day in order to gather information and arguments to prepare myself for the tournament, and more specifically, on the topic of military spending,” Mohabbat (12) said.

Although the size of OHS speech and debate is smaller than most, they make a lasting impact.

“Competing against other schools is great especially since we are relatively small in terms of size because we still make ourselves known to be one of the best schools in our district. It’s also great for making friends with other people from other teams and being able to see them every tournament and have friendly competition,” Westwood (11) said.

On Friday Jan. 27, Speech and Debate will be traveling to Jefferson City, Missouri to compete in another tournament with schools from across the state.