The Debate Team traveled to the UC Berkeley Cal Invitational Debate Tournament on Feb. 14. Five Archer girls, Isabel Adler ’17, Audrey Koh ’17, Sarah Wagner ’16, Isabelle Wilson ’17 and Marine Yamada ’17, all competed in an event that they had never participated in before: Impromptu Speaking.

Impromptu Speaking is an individual event that entails a five minute speech with short preparation time — about one to two minutes.

Wilson made it to the Octofinals elimination round, despite this being her first time competing in this event. Wilson’s advancement marks the first time Archer has advanced to Octofinals at Berkeley in the past five years.

“It was strange because I had never competed in the event before, but it showed me that I was better than I thought I was. I was exhausted at the end of the day too, the round was at 8:30 at night, and we hadn’t eaten, but it was exciting,” she said.

While competing, the girls debated topics ranging from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift lyrics to common phrases like “jump the gun,” “hit the nail on the head” and “follow the leader.” They had up to two minutes to prepare a five minute speech on the topic.

“It was a different experience than what we usually face at a debate tournament, so when we found out that we would be competing in such a different competition it was a little intimidating. Once we got there, the experience was really enjoyable and it really made you think on your feet and practice those skills,” Wagner said.