Zara Koroma, a senior speech and debate member placed 3rd at the state qualifiers and will go on to represent Canyon this coming weekend at the CHSSA State Tournament. Zara has been part of Canyon’s speech and debate team, run by Mrs. Wilken, since her freshman year.

Moving forward into her future debates, Zara plans on “using all the judges’ feedback [she] received from [her] past competitions this season and applying [it].” She strives to win the State Championships and says that it would be a huge accomplishment.

Zara competed with a 10-minute poem she wrote about self-love entitled “A Love Letter to Myself,” which she wrote at the beginning of her junior year. Unfortunately, she couldn’t compete with the poem last year due to COVID-19. Although it set her back, she shares that it was better in the long run because she feels much more confident reading it now.

Zara expresses, “I originally was going to write my poem as a speech for the Original Oratory category, but I’m glad I didn’t because I think it would’ve been more cliche and not as impactful.” One unique thing about Zara’s poem is that it is actually formed as a letter.

Zara shares what her poem is about: “I talk about my journey with self-love and just how being a hopeless romantic used to ruin my perception of love. The whole point of my poem is that people don’t have to find love through romance, which is something I had to learn growing up.”

If you are interested in listening to Zara’s poem click here. I highly recommend it because it is amazing!