Forensics Speech & Debate to Compete in Nationals

Michelle H. Daino
On February 25, members of the Forensics Speech & Debate Team attended the Catholic Forensics League's National Tournament where they competed in the Grand Qualifying Tournament against six other schools at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne. Congratulations to Wanshu Tang '25, (novice in Declamation category), Akshaya Karanam '24 (2nd place in Extemporaneous Speaking), Melissa Ramirez '24 (2nd place in DUO), Zoe Schack '24 (2nd place in Original Oratory), Grace Glynn '23 (1st place in Oral Interpretation of Prose and Poetry), Maria Pasqua '26 (2nd place in Declamation), Aayushi Arvikar '24 and Mikayla Sharif '24 (1st place in DUO). Taryn Murphy '23 (2nd place with Melissa Ramirez in DUO). The team will compete in the Nationals from May 24-26 in Louisville, KY.
 
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Eight members of the team attended a two-day competition at Harvard University where they competed against students from 32 states. Congratulations to Taryn Murphy '23 and Victoria Fekete '24 (came in 3rd and progressed all the way to the semi-finals in JV Public Forum Debate), Grace Glynn '23 (Program Oral Interpretation category), Aayushi Arvikar '24 and Mikayla Sharif '24 (Duo Interpretation category), Akshaya Karanam '24 (double-entered in both Extemporaneous Speaking and Original Oratory categories), Manuela Roncancio-Roldan '25 (Original Oratory category) and Melissa Ramirez '24 (in Debate en Espanol category).
 
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On February 28, Zoe Schack '24, Akshaya Karanam '24, Victoria Fekete '24 and Maria Pasqua '26 competed online in the NJ Speech and Debate League's Asynchronous Tournament against 18 schools representing New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, Georgia and Kentucky. Over 200 student video entries were submitted, and our team had an amazing showing earning four gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals in the categories of Congressional Debate, Prepared Prompt Speech, Original Oratory and Original Poetry.
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