by Alex Coopersmith, opinions editor
Every year, thousands of high school students converge at the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament in a mass spectacle of suits and talking to walls. This year, five A&M Consolidated students traveled to Overland Park, Kansas to participate in this highly competitive event from June 16-20.
In public forum debate, 2014 graduate Shankar Srinivasan and senior Karna Venkatraj participated in six debates, all about the impact of NATO entering Ukraine to counter Russian aggression. The duo barely missed the semifinals, receiving seven of eight necessary votes from the judges.
In international extemporaneous speaking, the speakers are given 30 minutes to prepare a 7-minute speech. Over two days, 2014 graduate Paul Morgan researched and gave six speeches ranging in subject from Uruguay’s marijuana policy to India’s presidential election, but also failed to advance to semifinals.
Junior Marley Hays performed her humorous interpretation of “Urine Town,” a written piece about a corporation that controls the right for citizens to pee. Like the other contestants, she created her own 10-minute interpretation of a written work and performed it six times, but failed to advance to semi-finals.
In Congress, students debate mock congressional legislation and give speeches in support of passing or failing a bill/resolution. Senior Alex Coopersmith served as presiding officer in the first round and the semifinal of the three-hour Congressional sessions, missing the Congress finals by two places. For serving as presiding officer twice and making semi-finals, he received two large gavels and the Senator Carl Mundt medal.
In addition to waking up extremely early and competing against the best high school debaters in the nation, the students helped set a Guinness world record (along with the rest of the tournament’s participants) for the largest number of simultaneous text messages ever sent.
