The Perrysburg Speech and Debate team qualified 21 high school students along with 3 first alternates to the 97th State Championship Speech and Debate Tournament held February 27 -March 1 at Austintown Fitch High School, Austintown, Ohio. The Perrysburg team joined over 1,000 other students, representing 88 school districts, who competed in fourteen separate categories of public address, acting, and debate.
Seniors Seth Ermie and Sydney Wolfinger advanced to second place in the final round of Duo Interpretation with their performance “Two Sides to Every Coin” by Gregory T. Burns. They are the first Duo team in the 25-year history of the Perrysburg Chapter to advance to the final round at the State Tournament.
Twelve students traveled to the National Qualifying Tournament for the Western Ohio District, which was held February 14-15 at Centerville High School. Alex Ban in Informative Speaking, Seth Ermie in Dramatic Interpretation, and Robinson Zhang in Humorous Interpretation qualified to represent Western Ohio at the National Speech and Debate Association in Des Moines, Iowa this June. Also advancing to the final rounds were Aymana Alam and Maayna Parikh.
During the State Finals Tournament, the following students advanced to the quarter-final rounds: Jacob Nahhas and Jordan Nahhas in Duo Interpretation performing “The Great Dictator” by Charlie Chaplin, Aymana Alam in Program of Oral Interpretation performing “Hear Me” a program of domestic violence and Iris Weisstein in International Extemporaneous speaking.
The team had six tournament championships during the season and earned the number one team in the Toledo District. Six students pre-qualified to compete at the States Finals this year by placing at the top of their category in a minimum of four tournaments during the season. They were Aymana Alam in Program of Oral Interpretation, Robinson Zhang in Humorous Interpretation, Iris Weisstein in International Extemporaneous, Jia Thakker in Original Oratory, and Alex Ban and Maanya Parikh in Informative Speaking.
The team is coached by Jennifer Nagy Lake along with assistant coaches Alex Leong and Debra Kemp. Dr. Melissa Miller advises extemporaneous speakers.