Thousands of eyes train on thick, blue curtains. People shift in their seats while emcee Ben Nordstrom transitions between acts. Finally, he announces, “Please welcome to the stage 16-year-old Alisha Wang Yin.” Applause erupted from around the Fabulous Fox, but as the curtains lifted and Nordstrom exited the stage, all audience discourse ceased. There junior Alisha Yin stood silently, turned away from the audience, binder in hand. She bathed in the spotlight, waiting to address the audience. The culmination of months of practice and preparation would begin and end within minutes. All that was left was the performance: “In the eye of a hurricane, there is . . . quiet,” Yin sang.

On the night of Jan. 23, Yin, one of 25 competitors, performed in the 16th Annual St. Louis Teen Talent Competition. Even before that, she practiced the art of the Program Oral Interpretation (POI) for two years through speech and debate.

“There [are] a lot of [speech] events that take a lot of cognitive ability to put together, but I think of all the things, POIs [are] the highest level of that because it’s asking you to make an argument through published literature. You can’t use your own words; you have to use the words of others, but then you have to puzzle them together to craft your argument, which is cool but challenging,” English teacher and Speech and Debate Coach Cara Borgsmiller said. 

Yin chose to enter the competition with her POI piece — a mix of poetry, prose and drama, titled “Ways to Find Your Voice.” While typical POIs for the National Speech and Debate Association’s competitive format are 10 minutes long, the talent competition required Yin to fit exposition, rising action, inciting incident, climax, falling action and resolution all into just three minutes. Borrowing from popular media like one of Hamilton’s songs, “Hurricane”; a Healthline article; musical Dear Evan Hansen; and The Little Mermaid, Yin cut and crafted her POI line by line. To tie her piece together, she centered content around Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) under pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Yin created the piece to emphasize the importance of the First Amendment.

“[The piece is] beautiful and sad and poignant. It’s really well put together, and she’s picked a topic that is incredibly meaningful to her and found some really incredible stories to tell about it and put it together in a really compelling way,” Borgsmiller said.

With “Ways to Find Your Voice,” Yin applied for the contest. Eventually, preliminaries arrived, and she performed in front of a panel of judges at a theater in Kirkwood, Mo. Later, Yin proceeded to the semifinals, where the same process repeated. After semifinals and before the public finals at the Fabulous Fox, Yin endured late nights and long rehearsals, working with professionals to perfect her performance. On Jan. 22, Yin attended rehearsal and went to bed around 2 a.m., unaware the show would go on that very day. Because of an impending winter storm, the date and time of the competition changed from 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 to 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 23. While the audience funneled from the lobby into their seats, actors, dancers and judges prepared behind the curtains. The lights flickered, then dimmed — and the show began with an explosive musical number, which introduced every performer, including Yin. Nordstrom introduced the competition and transitioned between acts. Following a rock band, singing performances, interpretive dances, a piano-violin duet and a tap dance routine, Yin took the stage as the 12th act of the 14 slated for the night.

“I don’t think it was my best performance ever, but I’m glad I had the platform to spread my message. It was interesting because when I first [performed my piece] during [the preliminary round], Jimmy Kimmel was very relevant. It was a couple of weeks after the initial incident. It was interesting to see the reactions of the judges as [I] progressed because I had to use the same material,” Yin said. “In [the] semifinals, it [was] still a very relevant conversation, but you [could] feel [a] disconnect between their idea [of] the Jimmy Kimmel show being banned [and] the other examples of free speech being [suppressed] at that time.”

Despite this, she won the “I” Award for performing the most imaginative, inspired and inventive act.

“[Yin is] determined. She has a very clear mission to succeed, and she is able to view her own performances really objectively — not all high school kids have that capacity — because she is determined to figure out a way to win,” Borgsmiller said. “We always say you win judges and not rounds. The person at the back of the room decides, and if it [were] a different person in that same round, it might have a different outcome. She’s very aware of that, and she’s willing to identify her mistakes, fix those mistakes immediately, and is determined to excel as a result.”

However, Yin’s success extends beyond the “I” Award. In her 2024-2025 speech and debate season, she placed first in eight events at nine local invitationals, becoming a tournament champion in POI, Open Poetry and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. At the MSHSAA Speech and Debate District Tournament, Yin was the district champion in Dramatic Interpretation and Poetry Reading. Though Yin got 4th overall for Poetry Reading at the state tournament, she is currently ranked first in Missouri for Poetry and seventh in POI. In 2025, she became one of approximately 6000 competitors qualifying for the 2025 NSDA National Speech and Debate tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, where she placed in the top 15 for Original Spoken Word Poetry. Yin has an NSDA Outstanding Distinction for accumulating 1,076 points by competing and placing in tournaments. This year, her POI focuses on echo chambers and environmentalism. Beyond competition, Yin is now one of four executive board members elected for the speech and debate team at West High. Senior and fellow executive board member Yein Ahn met Yin through debate. They both began as novices in the same speech and debate event: Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Currently, Yin and Ahn serve as Lincoln-Douglass Debate co-captains beyond their individual performance and debate events.

“I know [Yin] as a friend [and] not just a teammate. I think she’s very driven; she knows what she wants to do and she’s willing to do what it takes to get there and achieve her goals,” Ahn said. “[Yin] was very driven, even as a freshman, but now she has the abilities to support [her drive and] because of that, she’s able to accomplish a lot more.”

The year prior — Yin’s sophomore year — she was a captain for her event, POI, as well as Poetry and Prose reading events. She taught newer members, helped competitors develop their skills and coordinated practices.

“[Yin] kind of got me started,” sophomore Raaga Golla said. “The reason that I do this event is because I saw her perform at a pre-competition where everybody [could] see how each event worked. When I watched her POI, I was encapsulated — entranced — and I was like, ‘that’s what I’m [going to] do.’”

Despite Yin’s success, she hasn’t always won. Still, she took her losses as lessons and continued her work. 

“It’s true of anybody that does something competitive like [speech and debate] and is actually competitive in it. Initially, when you start doing it, you’re very fixated on outcomes, and that is validation for the work that you’ve done,” Borgsmiller said. “She said something today like, ‘the way I placed [in a speech and debate tournament] this past weekend is not necessarily what I wanted, but I was okay with it, and I love my piece, and that’s enough.’ That’s growth, right there. [Now, Yin sees her work] for the value — its intrinsic worth as opposed to its external rewards.”

In the future, Yin wants to represent the silenced and return power to the people, helping others find their voices.

“I want to be a lawyer [because] that intersects two of my passions: public speaking and environmental justice. One of the biggest problems that I’ve seen throughout my high school career is how science [takes] advantage of people who aren’t educated. A lot of rural folk in Missouri are in these areas where they’re being taken advantage of by companies like Bayer or Tyson, and they’re being forced into these very unsustainable agriculture practices that are damaging to the earth and also [to] them. I want to be a lawyer to remedy that, to help them fight for their autonomy and their rights to be more sustainable,” Yin said.

Whether it’s in a competition or online, Yin never neglects one of her most valuable assets: her voice. Even after the curtains fall, she can rest assured knowing that she’s been heard and that, just maybe, she enlightened another, spoke to their soul’s depth, or ignited the spark in their voice.

“One of the unique things about debate, theater or speech in general is that you get to perform something. Even during a debate or an oratory, you’re still performing. You’re given a place to speak to people. No matter how many people are in the room, you’re still giving your message to someone,” Yin said. “That’s what’s powerful about this activity. So what motivates me to do this is the fact that I will be heard. No matter if they agree with me, no matter [how] my program goes, I still have a platform to express myself.”