Talk that talk Seventeen Speech and Debate students qualify for Nationals in June

dorothy lakshmanamurthy page editor

Hearing her name announced in the first place spot for dramatic interpretation at the highly competitive National qualifying competition at Bishop Noll on March 4, Jordan Fefferman, sophomore, was filled with excitement as she obtained a spot at Nationals in Phoenix, Arizona in June.

“I was so happy when I heard my name and to know that I qualified again for my second year,” Jordan said. “I cannot wait to go, especially since my piece is extremely important to me.”

Jordan’s piece, “Lily’s Promise,” reflects an important message regarding her own Jewish culture. Jordan portrays a ninety-six year old Holocaust survivor, Lily, as she faces modern-day anti-Semitism.

“My piece gives me a way to speak against antisemitism, share Lily’s message and teach others things they likely didn’t know before,” Jordan said. “With such a heavy and dark topic, I can see the real-life effects it has.”

Including Jordan, there are 17 national qualifiers. One of these qualifiers, Anna Raycroft, senior, was able to auto-qualify for Nationals this year, for humorous interpretation, since she semi-finaled at Nationals last year. At the National competition, she will be recognized and honored for qualifying for Nationals all four years.

“It’s honestly such a surreal experience,” Anna said. “When I found out I ‘semied,’ I was crying and I hugged it out with some of my teammates. My team was so happy for me.”

Along with the individual qualifying achieve- ments, the whole speech team won the State championship in Indianapolis last weekend. This is the thirteenth consecutive year that the team has won the State championship title. Mr. Jor dan Mayer, speech coach, credits his team for collaborating together to obtain the title.

“We are quite young in that the majority of our team are underclass students,” Mr. Mayer said. “This has been a year that has really demon strated how our veterans and our beginners can work together. We give tremendous credit to our veterans for mentoring and coaching our beginners. We also give tremendous credit to our beginners, for rising up to the occasion and making wonderful progress.”

“Happiness is a state of being. Happiness is finding what you love about yourself and sharing it. If we feed ourselves proof of the diversity that exists in the world, we WILL learn to appreciate all bodies for what they are: A- OK. Awesome. Maybe even perfect.”

After State, the team takes a break to work on fine-tuning their pieces. They will send videos of their performances to trusted speech peers within the community and across the country, along with collaborating with one another on the team, to gather feedback for several May competitions and further prepare for Nationals.

“It’s important to pay attention to all the lit tle details of our pieces,” Delaney Craig, junior, said. “Every piece has a formula with a teaser, in tro, body, climax, and falling action. The goal is to, within that formula, grab the audiences’ at tention, reach their heart, and spread a message.”

“Powerful next-generation instruments will bring us closer to what would be a long-antic ipated, profound discovery: a small, rocky, habitable world somewhere in the galaxy with an atmosphere that reminds us of our own.”

(From

Practicing

“My favorite moments of the season occur during the downtime at tournaments where we can have fun, and I can joke around with my teammates.”

National Qualifiers

Jordan Fefferman - Dramatic Interpretation

Delaney Craig- Dramatic Interpretation

Anna Raycroft- auto-qualifier in Humorous Interpretation.

Tara Gaither/James Ferguson - Duo Interpretation.

Nneka Oniah/Niah Maduakoloam - Duo Interpretation

Kam Hubbard- Programmed Oral Interpretation

Grace Harris- Programmed Oral Interpretation

Gabriela Ruiz - Original Oratory

Katherine Sheehan- Informative Speaking

Addy Ellis- Informative Speaking

Claire Han- International Extemporaneous Speaking

Luna Gutierrez- United States Extemporaneous Speaking

Asha Patel- Congressional Debate

Ayush Arora- Congressional Debate

Dorsa Farahani- Congressional Debate

“When I was brought to Auschwitz they told me that the only way out was through the chimney, yet I am still here. But I wish I could protect the world from people who question survivors’ testimonies and claim exaggeration”

Speech State Champions 2023

For the thirteenth consecutive year, Speech again holds the title of State Champions.

State Finalists

Kam Hubbard -1st

Ari Jamerson - 3rd

Andrea Njakara - 5th

Anna Raycroft - 2nd

Jordan Fefferman - 2nd

Delaney Craig - 4th

Annabelle Spicer - 2nd

Alicia Powell - 2nd

Claire Han - 2nd