Leah Molavi, a Cherry Hill High School East senior, won first place in Informative Speaking at the 34th Annual Yale Invitational on Saturday and Saturday, Oct. 3–4.

Molavi competed against students from across the country at the tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, advancing through quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds with a speech she had not yet delivered in competition this season. The win marks a milestone for Cherry Hill East's Speech and Debate team, which is only in its fifth year of competition.

Her winning speech, titled "Fly Love," explored two sides of flirtation: the lighthearted jokes and how quickly they can be taken to extremes. Molavi told Eastside, the school's student newspaper, she originally planned to speak about birds and their mating behaviors before landing on the topic. The topic clicked.

"When you do that for the first time, you have no clue how the judges are going to react, and you are basically going in blind," Molavi said of delivering the speech at such a high-stakes event.

Molavi began writing her speech and building her visual-aid boards about two months before the competition. She serves as treasurer of the team's leadership board this year and spends much of her weekly practice time helping newer members prepare their own speeches.

At the tournament, she encountered competitors with far more preparation time. One rival from California had placed eighth nationally and had been preparing since her state's season started a month earlier.

Cherry Hill East sent one other student, junior Trey Azara, to the Yale Invitational. Both enrolled independently to get early competition experience, a challenge for a young program that can attend only a handful of tournaments each school year.

The Speech and Debate team was founded in December 2021 by students Ananya Balasubramanya and Grace Yoon as a speech club. A debate component was added in 2022. The team has since earned Charter Status from the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), the organization's highest designation, awarded after accumulating 50 competition points over three years.

Molavi credited her coach, Ms. Vaughn, for making the trip possible.

"Now that I have opened the gateway of championing at a competition as difficult as Yale, there's definitely more to come … for the team," Molavi said.