On March 25, 2023, students from Fillmore Unified participated in the Ventura County Migrant Speech and Debate Competition at Oxnard College. Fillmore Unified was represented at the competition by a total of nine students who participated in the speech portion of the competition in both English and Spanish.
Students have been preparing for the competition since January 2023, with support from their coaches Jonathan Gonzalez and Veronica Lemus. The two coaches are teachers that work for Fillmore Unified and coached students during last year’s competition. In preparation for the event, students spent time after school and on Saturdays to researching, drafting, and perfecting their speeches, as well as practicing for the event.
Students have worked hard to develop their writing and public speaking skills and were able to perform confidently at the completion. During the completion, each student participates in three rounds, two rounds of prepared speeches and one round of extemporaneous speech. During the extemporaneous round, students received a topic during the event and are given a limited amount of time to prepare a speech on the topic before being asked to present their speech. This is a very difficult part of the competition and our students performed well.
Congratulations to all our student for their hard work and participation. Thank you to our two coaches for their work with students. Special thank you to our guest coach Maria Gonzalez for her dedication to the Migrant students of Fillmore Unified. We are so proud of the remarkable team that represented Fillmore Unified at this special event.
Migrant Speech Team 2023
Coaches
Veronica Lemus, teacher at Fillmore High School
Jonathan Gonzalez, teacher at Sierra High School
Fillmore Middle School
Alonso Laiz, 6th grade
Miriam Cacho, 7th grade
Sophia Rodriguez, 7th grade
Fillmore High School
Aaron Cacho, 9th grade
Abraham Vargas, 9th grade
Ana Maria Rodriguez Mares, 9th grade
Marileny Manzo Zambrano, 10th grade
Karen Laiz, 11th grade
Karol Laiz, 11th grade
Student Winners:
6th Grade English
Prepared 1st Place-Alonso Laiz
Extemporaneous 2nd Place-Alonso Laiz
7th Grade English
Prepared 1st Place - Sophia Rodriguez
7th Grade Spanish
Prepared 1st Place - Miriam Cacho
9th Grade English
Prepared 2nd Place - Abraham Vargas
9th Grade Spanish
Prepared 3rd Place - Aaron Cacho
10th Grade Spanish
Prepared 1st Place-Marileny Manzo Zambrano
Extemporaneous 2nd Place- Marileny Manzo Zambrano
11th Grade English
Prepared 2nd Place - Karol Laiz
Prepared 3rd Place - Karen Laiz
Extemporaneous 2nd Place - Karol Laiz