Five students from the Park Hill South speech and debate team have recently qualified for state after impressive performances at the Class 1 District 3 Tournament at North Kansas City High School on March 4.
Park Hill South sisters Sylvia and Sophia Nguyen went 7-1 in Public Forum Debate at the Class 1 District 3 Tournament at North Kansas City High School to qualify for state on March 4.
Benjamin Shepard had a near perfect outing at district when the junior advanced in every event he competed in, which includes the Policy Debate with Timmy Tasler as his partner. The other events Shepard qualified in were Radio Speaking and United States Extemporaneous Speaking (USX).
“For Radio Speaking, Shepherd wrote and performed a 5-minute script that includes
local, national, international, and sports’ news,” Park Hill South speech and debate coach Hannah Townsend said “Ben takes a special twist on the event by writing satirical news based on real news stories. He calls his segment, ‘The Shallot,’ which is a play on the satirical news source, ‘The Onion’”
After Shepard’s Radio Speaking performance was judged by eight judges this weekend, he earned third place. The USX is a highly competitive event and Shepard claimed third place in that one as well.
“In this event, students arrive at their round and are posed with three questions and asked to choose one question to research and perform a speech on. They’re given a 30-minute preparation period and are then judged on the speech that they create in that period of time. Students are expected to memorize a speech that has multiple sources, so this is one of the most challenging events in our program,” Townsend said.
When Shepard and Townsend teamed up for Policy debate, the Park Hill South duo earned second place when they were judged by 10 of the 14 judges. Tasler – who is a senior and has been on the speech and debate team all four years – also qualified in Original Oratory and
Policy Debate.
“Tasler’s oratory is an 8-10 minute speech that was written and memorized by him. His speech is about greed and opens with an anecdote about Mr. Krabs – a money hungry cartoon character from SpongeBob – and throughout the speech, Tasler shines a light on the negative impacts that greed brings on society. He has spent hours on end writing, rewriting, memorizing and rememorizing this speech, so it’s great to see his hard work and dedication pay off,” Townsend said.
Park Hill South sophomore Avery Swanson, a sophomore and first year speech and debate member, qualified in Humorous Interpretation with a second-place finish. She plays several characters in the 10-minute performance including the main character Norm, a nerdy teenage boy; Norm’s mother; a jock; and Ann Allen, the love interest of Norm.
“Avery’s piece is called ‘Present Tense’ by John McNamara. It details the struggles of teenage relationships in a humorous way. She’s has had a lot of success with this piece all year long, earning tournament champion at several invitationals,” Townsend said.
The last two state qualifiers are sisters Sylvia and Sophia Nguyen, who are both juniors, as the sister tandem went 7-1 in Public Forum Debate on the weekend with their only loss coming in the final round. Park Hill South will have some time to prepare for the Speech and Debate State Tournament at Missouri Southern University on April 21-22.
“We will be working for the next 45 days on perfecting their performances and research
to hopefully bring home a state plaque or a few. These students have continued to impress with their hard work, intelligence and dedication,” Townsend said.