Speech & Debate Team Attends District Contest

On March 24 and 25, seven members of the Speech and Debate Team competed at the District competition for Forensics Public Speaking hosted by the NJ Speech & Debate League.

 

Lana Abbott, the team's co-moderator, stated, "This is the ultimate speech and debate tournament in the state where students are competing for a spot on the NJ Team which will go to Nationals in Phoenix, AZ this year." She added that eligibility to attend the New Jersey District Championship depends upon a student accumulating at least 25 points per year in the NSDA in their category. This makes them eligible for District competition as well as induction in the National Speech and Debate Honor Society. Points are earned by competing at a tournament and additional points are earned depending upon the resulting placement at tournament's end. 

 

Congratulations to Taryn Murphy '23, Grace Glynn '23, Zoe Schack '24, Akshaya Karanam '24, Victoria Fekete '24, Aayushi Arvikar '24 and Mikayla Sharif '24. Akshaya competed in International Extemporaneous Speaking and earned a spot on the NJ Team going to Nationals with her second place finish in the state! Zoe performed her self-written piece, "Sticks and Stones" in Original Oratory. Grace competed in Program Oral Interpretation with her combined pieces "I Used To Insist I Didn't Get Angry, but Not Anymore by Leslie Jamison, My Body Is A Sickness Called Anger by Lisa Marie Basile and Guilty by Erin Khar as well as assorted poetry pieces on the theme of depression.  Aayushi and Mikayla competed in Duo Interpretation with their piece "Airplane!" Taryn and Victoria competed as a duo in Varsity Public Forum Debate. 

 

Akshaya not only earned a spot on the NJ Team going to Nationals in the National Speech & Debate League but she has also earned a spot this year going to Louisville, KY with the Catholic Forensics League, making her a dual National competitor in Speech & Debate.  

 

We are very proud of all our MSMA Public Speakers and, as Mary Gormley (NJ District tournament director) stated at the awards ceremony: "Keep using your voice to speak up, speak out and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves."