Perrysburg Seniors Alex Katko and Henry Yang travelled with coaches Debra Kemp and Josh Riesen to compete in the 2015 National Speech and Debate Tournament held in Dallas, Texas from June 14 to June 20. The Public Forum Debate team of Alex Katko and Henry Yang were one of two teams who qualified to represent the District of Western Ohio, which includes the Ohio schools from Toledo to Cincinnati and east to take in the Columbus area schools. The team debated the Resolution “Resolve: The benefits of First Amendment protection of anonymous speech outweigh the harms” for an 8-4 record, which advanced the team to the next level of the competition to rounds 7 and 8. This is the highest level ever obtained by a Perrysburg team at Nationals. This fall Henry Yang will attend Northwestern University and Alex Katko will attend The Ohio State University.
The National Speech & Debate Tournament marks the capstone of high school speech and debate activities for nearly 130,000 students around the country and the National Tournament is the largest academic contest in the world. The National Tournament has run continuously since 1931 and awards students more than $200,000 in college scholarships. To attend, students must place among the top competitors at one of 110 District Tournaments. Final rounds are judged by blue ribbon panels including CEOs, former Cabinet members, stage and screen celebrities, sponsors and acclaimed community members. Perrysburg High School Speech and Debate team has had thirteen national appearances and twenty one national qualifiers since re-establishing the Charter in 1999.
For more information on how you can support or be a part of the Perrysburg Team contact Head Coach, Debra Kemp at [email protected] or visit The National Speech and Debate Association web site at http://www.speechanddebate.org.