Perrysburg Speech and Debate Team marks a Record-Breaking Season
The Perrysburg Speech and Debate Team has ended their season by sending a record-breaking twenty qualifiers to the State Speech and Debate Tournament and qualifying two students to compete during the National Tournament this June in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Twenty of the twenty-five students on the team qualified to compete at the 90th annual State Speech and Debate Tournament held March 2nd and 3rd in Sylvania, Ohio. Representing Perrysburg for the fourth time at the State Tournament were seniors Sharvari Brahme, Jalisia Goodman and Kate Lake. Also competing during the two-day tournament were seniors Jillian Craig, Ashley Dibling, Chandan Kadur, Abdurrahman Khan and Sophie Walcher. Juniors Emma Brown, Gwyn Burns, Marcus Doore, Mateo Gutierrez, Andrew Hogle, Emma Jaromin, Elaine Park, Gavin Rogers, Emma Rohrs and William Xi and competed at both Southview and Northview schools. Rounding out the 20 qualifiers were freshmen Evan Leong and Hanan Sjah.
Advancing to semi-finals during the tournament was Sharvari Brahme in Declamation with her speech “There is more to life than being Happy.” Also advancing to quarter finals was Kate Lake in dramatic interpretation, performing “Amish Project,” Ashley Dibling in Informative with “Labels, what they really mean” and Elaine Park in Student Congress.
Kate Lake and Sophie Walcher also qualified to represent Western Ohio at the National Speech and Debate tournament June 17-22 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Kate Lake was the Western Ohio District Champion in dramatic Interpretation with “Amish Project,” earning straight ones during the two-day elimination tournament held at Beavercreek High School February 16 and 17. Sophie Walcher was second in Humorous Interpretation with “Tammy, A Coming of Age Story about a Girl who is part T-Rex.” Head Coach Debra Kemp will also be honored at the Tournament with an award of a Second Diamond coaches status by Nationals Speech and Debate Association.
The 25 members of the speech and debate team competed in ten separate events during the eleven regular season tournaments held November through January plus state qualifying districts and national qualifying districts held in February. Debra Kemp and parent volunteer Jennifer Lake coach the team.
Posted: Friday, March 9, 2018