By Tasheena Erickson

The Forks High School Speech & Debate team competed at the HeLa Tournament in Vancouver, WA, at Henrietta Lacks High School on Jan. 10, 2026. The tournament consisted of teams from seven different schools (Washington and Oregon) and a total of 52 competitors. Competing FHS Students were: Patricia Calderon-Weed, Trentston Pope, Trent Prose, Zoey Beutler, and Isabella Hayworth. The team was also ecstatic to welcome Alvaro Martin-Mendoza as a new competing teammate.

After multiple rounds of debate and speech events, FHS competitors placed as follows:

Patricia Calderon-Weed placed 1st in Open Spoken Word Poetry, 1st in Open Informative, and took 2nd place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Trentston Pope placed 1st in Impromptu and placed 1st in Novice Spoken Word Poetry

Alvaro Martin-Mendoza placed 2nd in Novice Spoken Word Poetry

Zoey Beutler placed 3rd in Open Spoken Word Poetry

Trent Prose placed 2nd in Humorous Interpretation and 3rd in Oregon Radio

Isabella Hayworth also competed adamantly in Open Spoken Word Poetry and Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Huge thanks to admin and all who work behind the scenes to support this team and provide students with this exceptional experience. Special thanks to Shelley Martin, Chris Vessey, and Freedom Drudge for traveling all the way to Vancouver to assist in judging tournament events!

Team spirits were high on Saturday as their momentum continues to build.

Coming up: We have one more regular-season tournament, followed by the State Qualifier Tournament, then NSDA Districts (where most of the team has already qualified), and—very likely—the State Tournament!