The Student News Site of Alief Kerr High School

Kerronicle
The Student News Site of Alief Kerr High School

Kerronicle
The Student News Site of Alief Kerr High School

Kerronicle
All content by Sarah Abi Saab
Leah Ghebrelul, Abigail Nguyen, Sarah Abi Saab, and Erica Carranza (Team LASER) pose for a picture after becoming finalists in the City Championships.

Team LASER Fundraises for Tournament of Champions

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
April 3, 2025
Dat Nguyen, Haniyah Lutfi, and Alan Parra pose with their first, second, and third place trophies at City Qualifiers. All of these debaters were competing in varsity congress. "For my city qualifiers tournament, I found it very fun and unique from others. I think that CASE tournaments allowed for all the congressional debaters to bond with eachother, and so rather than feeling you did bad after rounds, you felt like you had a group supporting your back! Overall it was very fun," Nguyen said.

Speech and Debate Wins at City Qualifiers

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 20, 2025
Mikayla Diep practices one of her songs in the 2D Art Room.

Matilda’s Freaky Friday

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 19, 2025

Food For Thought

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 19, 2025
Endless Laughter Joy Kazeem, Natalia Sorto, Daniela Leal, Greydis Landaverde, Ashlyn Yencle, and Moises Zuniga, talk and share jokes over ice cream at the CO'26 ice cream social. With a big turnout, much of the ice cream supply was left empty. "My favorite part was socializing with my club," Yencle said.

CO’26 Hosts Ice Cream Social

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 11, 2025
Who Wants a Turkey! Lead mentor Aryan Shoaei explains the November event and what the turkey is used for to his mentors and mentees. Mentors and mentees then pair up to work on coming up what they're thankful for and how to decorate their turkey together. "I think my group aced the event," Shoaei said.

[Photo] NTLB Hosts November Mixer

Written by Helin Wang
December 3, 2024
Endless Smiles Adrian Alas, Emmi Truong, Jessica Nguyen, Nhi Le, and Luis Renteria pose for a picture at the entrance on the night of Homecoming. This being their last Hoco as graduating seniors, they were excited to see what STUCO had in store. "They really outdid themselves with the decorations this year," Alas said. "Really transports you into a new place."

Students Attend Homecoming Dance

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
November 12, 2024
Eager Faces Victoria Pacheco shares general news to debate members during an afterschool meeting on Wednesday, October 16. With the first CASE tournament of the year happening in 3 days, debaters were excited to begin preparation. "I'm nervous to try new speaker position," debater Abigail Nguyen said.

Speech and Debate Holds General Meeting

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
October 23, 2024
Beaming Smiles Abigail Nguyen, Sarah Abi Saab, and Esai Moreno pose for a picture after advancing to semifinals in the Springwood Memorial Swing tournament. With only a few minutes till the next round, they enjoyed themselves with a last minute UNO match. "I wasn't able to compete both days, but the time I was there was fun," Nguyen said.

Speech and Debate Wins at Springwoods Memorial Tournament

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
October 16, 2024
Scattering Around. FEMS in STEM Club members play an intense game of Human Bingo during their first general meeting. With new faces all across the room, the ice breaker helped all members familiarize themselves with one another. "It was a very fun experience," officer Erica Carranza said.

FEMS in STEM Holds First General Meeting

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
September 26, 2024
All Eyes On Us Moises Zuniga, Wilson Nguyen, Natalia Sorto, Ashlyn Yencle, Guerlin Yencle, Camila Haro, Josey Adams, Safa Karim, Erica Carranza, and others gather around Mrs. Ryan toward the end of their first rehearsal. Seeing as this is the first show of the school year, the stakes are extremely high for all students. "I'm very excited to see how this goes," Carranza said.

Cadre Holds First Rehearsal of the Year

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
August 27, 2024
This is the official Speech and Debate Banquet Poster. It was designed by Historian Abigail Nguyen.

Speech and Debate Prepares for Banquet

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
May 9, 2024
Nyla Whiteside and Leah Ghebrelul pose for a picture with their awards from Districts. After competing at regions, they both hope to advance to the state level next year. "It sucks that we didn't make it, but I'm glad we tried," Ghebrelul said.

Speech and Debate Competes at Regions

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
May 2, 2024
Climbing the Ladder This is the NSDA logo. With national qualifiers in Congressional Debate and World Schools, competitors are working their way up to the national level.

Speech and Debate Prepares for Nationals

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
April 26, 2024
Sip and Type Erica Carranza, Sarah Abi Saab, Abigail Nguyen, and Leah Ghebrelul meet up at Kim's Tea House afterschool on Tuesday to prepare for a mock round on Thursday. During their time there, they researched the impacts of AI on disinformation. "I'm not the biggest fan of this motion, but I'm still excited," Nguyen said.

World Schools Teams Prepare For a Mock Round

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
April 18, 2024
Silver Medals Leah Ghebrelul poses for a picture in the speech room after advancing to regions in UIL. After competing in both LD and Extempt, she secured the win in the latter. "I had a lot of fun, and I'm excited for regions," Ghebrelul said.

Speech and Debate Wins at UIL

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
April 11, 2024
From the Top Abigail Nguyen runs through her Lincoln Douglas speech during speech and debate's afterschool meeting to prepare for UIL the coming Saturday. When writing her cases, she finds it helpful to read them as she goes. "I'm very excited to compete," said Nguyen.

Speech and Debate Prepares for UIL

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
April 4, 2024
Playing Away Junior Victor Nguyen poses for an Orchestra photo following his Winter Concert. This is his third year as a cellist in Cambiata Orchestra. "I love playing music, and cello is a lot of fun for me," Nguyen said.

10 Questions with Victor Nguyen

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
March 28, 2024

Hangout Havens

Written by Sarah Abi Saab and Feliz de Jesus
March 25, 2024
Countless Smiles Sochi Egbube, Leah Ghebrelul, Erica Carranza, Sarah Abi Saab, and Debate Coach Derek Davis pose for a picture after winning their octos-qualifying round. With zero prep on their topic, the team had to improvise throughout the round to secure the win. "We do really good when we improv, but we should probably start prepping," Carranza said.

Speech and Debate Competes at State

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
March 21, 2024
Nyla Whiteside and Sean MClain celebrate their victory at City Qualifiers on the bus ride back to Elsik. They used this tournament as practice for Congress UIL. "It's good to know that I am one of the best," said McClain.

Speech and Debate Wins at City Qualifiers

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 22, 2024
Speaking Up Sophomore Leah Ghebrelul practices her fluency and articulation during an after school debate meeting in room 531. As a fourth year debater, using drills to perfect her speaking style is advantageous in competitions. "I like to practice from the basics because it allows me to remember crucial skills," Ghebrelul said.

Speech and Debate Practices for Cities

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 22, 2024
Clicking Away Leah Ghebrelul works on her WSD case for her tournament on Saturday, February 10. This is the only prepared motion at the upcoming tournament. "I'm really excited to compete," Ghebrelul said.

Speech and Debate Prepares For City Qualifiers

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 8, 2024
Glowing Smiles The Speech and Debate team poses for a picture at the end of the Hastings Tournament. This marks one of the last competitions of the season to earn state points. "The team has come so far, and I am very proud of what we've accomplished," said sophomore Erica Carranza.

Speech and Debate Places at Hastings

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
February 1, 2024
Endless Smiles Leah Ghebrelul and Nyla Whiteside congratulate each other after a long day of debate at the Ross Sterling Tournament. With city qualifiers coming up, this competition was great practice. "I had a lot of fun," said Whiteside.

Speech and Debate Competes At CASE

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
January 25, 2024
Clicking Away Sophomore Erica Carranza works on her debate case for Saturday afterschool at Kim's Tea House. The topic for the tournament discusses automobile investment versus investment in public transportation. "I hope to place in the top 2," said Erica.

Speech and Debate Prepares For CASE 3

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
January 19, 2024
Shalom Akinkunmi and Naseem Saeed work on enhancing Saeed's oratory piece. She is a novice speaker who has been working on her piece since 8 grade. "I was born for oratory," said Saeed.

Speech and Debate Prepares for State Qualifying Tournament

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
January 11, 2024
Securing The Win Abigail Nguyen, Derek Davis, Sean McClain, Nyla Whiteside, Shalom Akinkunmi, Sochi Egbune, Karen Landaverde, and Sophia Ghebrelul pose for a picture after the award ceremony at CASE 3. This is one of the last CASE tournaments of the season. "I can't wait to go home," said Nguyen.

Speech and Debate Wins at CASE Tournament

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
December 13, 2023
Walking On Sunshine Erica Carranza, Sarah Abi Saab, Leah Ghebrelul, and Abigail Nguyen pose after winning their speaker awards for the UT Tournament. There were 42 teams present, constituting around 200 competitors. "It was the perfect birthday gift," said Carranza.

Team LASER Rocks The House At UT

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
December 11, 2023
Game Time Team LASER member Abigail Nguyen writes a debate case for the UT tournament starting Friday, December 1. This was the last case the team needed to prepare. "I'm both nervous and excited, but mostly excited," said Nguyen.

Team LASER Prepares For UT Tournament

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
December 2, 2023
Forks Up Amen Moreda, Leah Ghebrelul, Gabrielle Brown, Derek Davis, Nyla Whiteside, Nathaly Joj, and Ameerah Rose gather in the teacher's lounge Thursday afternoon to celebrate Friendsgiving. Many of the food and snacks available were provided by students. "The pie was definitley my favorite part," said Whiteside.

Speech and Debate Hosts Its First Friendsgiving Potluck

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
November 25, 2023
The Big Apple Junior Adrian Alas takes a trip to New York during his Summer break. He also made a visit to Australia to see his family. "I enjoy traveling with my family," said Alas.

10 Questions With Adrian Alas

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
November 10, 2023
Game Faces On Leah Ghebrulul, Raiyyan Khan, Shalom Akinkunmi, Victoria Pacheco, and Derek Davis write outlines for congressional speeches. They had a total of 14 speeches to prepare for the upcoming tournament. "Congress is only fun if you come prepared," says Khan.

Kerr Speech and Debate Prepares for Alief Early Tournament

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
November 8, 2023
Time to Snack Leah Ghebrelul, Abigail Nguyen, Karen Landaverde, Sean McClain, and Sochi Egbune take a snack break after finishing their preliminary rounds. While the other schools ordered pizza and deli, Goldish sufficed for these students. "I should probably carry cash next time," Egbune said.

Speech and Debate Rocks the House in Spring Woods Meets

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
October 4, 2023
Thinking Caps On Sophomore Binar Karwi prepares research for her exempt rounds this Friday and Saturday. This is her first competition of the school year. "I probably should have started earlier," Karwi said.

Speech and Debate Prepares for Upcoming Tournament

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
September 27, 2023
Selfie Time Junior Raiyyan Khan takes a mirror picture in his bathroom after school. He had just gotten back from math tutoring. "Hair on fleek," says Khanh.

10 Questions With Raiyyan Khan

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
September 20, 2023
Game Faces On Leah Ghebrelul, Sophia Ghebrelul, Lourine Mokoro, Alan Parra, David Loud, Evan Pham, and Marlin Cueva Morales play a celebratory spoons game after team LASER’s victory in the final round. During the last debate against Alief Early, to a vote of 3 to 0, the judges favored the opposition side of the house. “It was cool that we did so well because we only started prepping an hour before round,” says LASER teammate Leah Ghebrelul.

Speech and Debate Takes No Breaks

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
September 14, 2023
Think it Through Erica Carranza and Sochi Egbune prepare their case for the Dobie Tournament on Friday, September 8 during a general meeting on September 5. They researched and prepared an affirmative case against life-long term limits for federal judiciaries. “Working with a group of people who care as much as you do is really nice,” says Erica. “I can’t wait for this Friday!”

Speech and Debate LASER Focus On Tourney Prep

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
September 6, 2023
Arms Up Gabrielle Brown, Valencia Alvarez, and Raiyyan Khan lead an ice-breaker in the speech room during Speech and Debate's general meeting on Monday. This is one of three games meant to kick-start the meeting. "It's such a fun way to start the year, honestly. I wish I didn't lose so early." -Raiyyan Khan

Speech and Debate Making It Happen

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
August 30, 2023
Cheerful Smiles Abigail Nguyen, Shalom Akinkunmi, Sarah Abi Saab, Leah Ghebrelul, Erica Carranza, Gabrielle Brown, Rebecca Oyeniyi, and Nyla Whiteside receive their letterman jackets at Speech and Debate’s Rush Meeting on August 21. This was the beginning of what will be a competitive season. “It was pretty packed which was quite nice to see. Hopefully we’re gonna do some big things.” -Leah Ghebrelul

Speech and Debate Ready to Rumble

Written by Sarah Abi Saab
August 23, 2023
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