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Steamboat Springs — Is Hugo Chavez a help or a threat to the stability of Latin America?

Steamboat Springs High School junior Ashley Lopez says the leftist Venezuelan president is a "cantankerous leader (who) is a definite and clear threat" because of the "tsunami he is creating in the world and in his own country."

Lopez delivered the brief but well-articulated speech about Chavez's political, economic and social strategies during the 27th annual Steamboat Springs High School speech tournament Saturday.

Lopez was one of about 60 students from Steamboat, Moffat County, Hayden, Battle Mountain and Niwot high schools who competed in such events as public forum, original oratory, extemporaneous speaking, interpretation and creative storytelling. Rangely High School's team was scheduled to attend the event but cancelled its appearance because of snow.

The Sailors had the dual responsibility of organizing and running the tournament.

Speech team member Sean Hill said scheduling judges and organizing ballots and the student teams was stressful at times.

"We basically get everything ready - like setting up the judges and taking and handing out the ballots," he said.

Students who managed the tournament in the morning competed in the afternoon, and students who competed in the morning ran the tournament in the afternoon.

Lopez, who worked all morning, eagerly awaited her chance to compete in her favorite event - extemporaneous speaking.

Extemporaneous speaking is when a student draws three national or international questions dealing with current events. The student picks the one question he or she feels most comfortable speaking about and gets 30 minutes to prepare a speech to deliver to a panel of judges. While most students reached for the "National" envelope, Lopez quickly snatched the "International" envelope and smiled when she drew a question about Latin America.

She then rifled through a Rubbermaid tote the size of a laundry basket looking for folders labeled "Latin America." Lopez and other extemporaneous speakers often keep large bins full of news clippings and other resources they use to help them prepare their speeches.

"I love talking about Latin America," she said. "It's my second favorite after Iran, actually. I've given plenty of speeches on Hugo Chavez."

During her speech, Lopez cited six recent news articles from sources such as BBC and CNN. Being a "news hound" is vital to Lopez's success in speech - and her future as an international affairs reporter.

"I love the news. I like being informed about what it going on around me," she said. "It's really important to me."

Lopez said she generally watches a few hours of CNN or C-SPAN when she gets home from school, reads local and state newspapers in addition to reading international newspapers such as The Guardian of London and the Taipei Times of Taiwan. Her favorite news reporter is CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Knowing what's going on in the world makes Lopez a stronger competitor, she said.

"People think you just stand up there and talk," she said. "It is so, so much more than that."

Like other high school activities, forensics teams have weekly practices and travel around the state to compete in tournaments. Top qualifiers have the potential to compete on the state and national levels.

As a freshman, Lopez traveled to Philadelphia to compete in nationals and has since won at least 10 trophies for her speeches on current events.

On Saturday, Lopez was confident her speech was thoughtful and unique, but she was frustrated because she stumbled twice.

"That was really tough for me," she said. "I don't usually stumble that much. I offer no excuses - I just wasn't as focused as I should have been. I just hope the judges liked it."

Lopez said forensics has taught her to think quick and deliver effective speeches. She hopes to attend a summer journalism camp at Princeton University, and she plans to apply to Columbia University, New York University and the University of Colorado at Boulder to pursue a journalism degree.

The only thing Lopez needs now is more of the legal pads she uses to write her speeches.

"I've gone through so many legal pads," she said flipping through pages of notes, citations and quotes. "My mom will even give me highlighters and legal pads for my birthday. : It's happened before."