Courtesy Photo
Marlee Garza, 14, who will attend the Dr. Abraham P. Cano Freshman Academy, was named national champion at the 2022 National Speech and Debate Tournament earlier this month, along with Azaria Castillo, for their Duo Interpretation about women’s rights in the 18th and 19th century.
HARLINGEN – Renaissance woman.
Marlee Garza has a knack for excelling in numerous endeavors at once, effectively debating powerful causes, dancing to the rhythms in her heart, singing in choir and maintaining top grades.
“I’m a very strong believer in women’s rights, and I’m really proud of that part of myself, so I really like to try to tell people about that as much as I can,” said Marlee, 14, who represented Vela Middle School at the 2022 National Speech and Debate Tournament earlier this month.
Marlee, who will attend the Dr. Abraham P. Cano Freshman Academy this year, was named national champion at the event, along with Azaria Castillo for their Duo Interpretation about women’s rights in the 18th and 19th century.
She was also national champion in poetry for a piece about sexual assault on a young woman.
“When I saw these poetry pieces that I wanted to do, I thought they really reflected what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it,” she said.
And Marlee has so many things to say about, well, so many things – in so many ways. Her diversity of thought and feeling cannot be limited to just one medium of expression.
That’s why she’s been dancing for seven years.
Currently, she dances with Palm Valley Gymnastics and Dance, and she’s also looking forward to joining the Southern Stars dance team at Harlingen High School South.
“I do all sorts of dancing,” she said, “but I’d say my favorite would be jazz or contemporary. With contemporary, it’s a lot of emotion put into the dances. It’s very ‘you expressing yourself,’ and it’s more like sad type of songs. So I like to get into the feeling of that.”
So powerful is her dance she will have “working opportunities” at Palm Valley Gymnastics and Dance throughout high school making money at something she loves.
“I can go to competitions and just really have fun in my high school years through the dance,” she said.
And there’s still more to this young lady’s talent.
“I’m a choir member and this summer I’m actually going to All-State Choir in San Antonio,” she said. “I’m a soprano. I think it’s another form of expression through music.”
With all of her various activities, the question of her grades quickly surfaces, and it’s a question with a ready answer: “I’m in the top 12 in my class. I have been for the last three years.”
With both the logic-based left side of her brain and the right sided artistic hemisphere performing so well, she seems hard-wired for success at whatever she pursues.
That pursuit at this point of her formation is aimed toward the legal profession in which she’d like to practice corporate law or civil rights law.
