The Valparaiso Speech & Debate team reaped great success at District competitions this season, qualifying several team members for the National Forensic League’s National High School Speech & Debate Tournament in Birmingham Alabama this June.
This year’s national debate qualifiers from Valparaiso are Connor Devine who will compete in the Congress competition, where students simulate a real Congress session giving speeches in favor or against bills and voting on bills. Sarah Simon and Dana Khabbaz qualified as the Public Forum team, where partner teams debate current event questions; their alternates are John Miller and Nicola Pniak. Kelly Adams and Sofia Grimsgard are the qualifiers for Lincoln-Douglas which is a one-on-one debate and places emphasis on logic, ethical values and philosophy. Jacqui Peterschmidt and Katie Barton qualified as Policy debaters, and will work as a team to advocate the acceptance or rejection of a public policy change.
In the area of Speech, Sarah Simon and Jane Tullis qualified as alternates for U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking, an event where contestants have 30 minutes to synthesize resources they’ve previously compiled to give a memorized speech on a current U.S. issue. In Humorous Interpretation, Daniel Azar placed as an alternate and Anand Balar placed as an alternate for Extemporaneous Speaking related to a foreign issue.
This tournament marks the capstone of high school speech and debate activities for nearly 120,000 students around the country. To attend, students must place among the top competitors at one of 109 District Tournaments. Qualifiers compete for more than $200,000 in college scholarships in a variety of speech, debate, and performance events.
For further information, contact Valparaiso High School at 531-3070.