The Park Hill South speech and debate team brought home first place in sweepstakes at the largest novice tournament in the state at Liberty North High School on Jan. 14.
The tournament had 36 schools in attendance and Park Hill South amassed the most points of any school after having 11 entries break to semifinals, eight make it to the finals and four tournament champions in various categories. With only 12 Park Hill South students in attendance, this was an impressive performance.
The outstanding novice from this tournament was Jaelyn Woodley who took first place in Original Oratory with a 10-minute speech that she wrote, memorized and performed for 20 judges. Her speech entitled, “It’s Okay,” was about the value of apologizing.
“Jaelyn specifically touches on how women feel the need to apologize for taking up space and how people of color may feel urged to accept half-hearted apologies when racist acts have been committed against them,” Park Hill South speech and debate coach Hannah Townsend said. “Her call to action is simple: apologies need to mean something. She persuades audience members to institute her method “Triple A,” when it comes to apologizing: authenticity, acknowledgement, and accountability.”
Woodley also went 6-1 in Lincoln-Douglas debate to earn second place as she debated the topic, “Resolved: Justice requires open borders for human migration.” She debated both sides of the topic after spending countless hours researching and compiling cases for both the affirmative.
Park Hill South also had four other performances earn first place or “tournament champion” distinction. Roberto Shepherd and Henry Van Asselt took first place in Policy Debate.
“They debate both sides of the topic, however, their affirmative case argues that the United States needs to move away from outdated missiles currently in the arsenal. Instead, they argue that the U.S. should move to a more efficient type of technology by working with NATO to create positive global impacts,” Townsend said.
Shepherd and Van Asselt have debated together all year and have been close to winning multiple tournaments, but this was the first time that the duo had been able to secure that award. They even had the opportunity for redemption as they beat the team that previously won against them at finals during the Van Horn Novice tournament.
They both had stellar individual performances as well with Roberto ending in third place in
International Extemporaneous Speaking after winning first in his preliminary and semifinals
Rounds. Van Asselt earned fourth place in Congressional Debate.
“The two have been absolutely essential in our novice team success this year, and I have been so proud of their growth as teammates and individual competitors,” Townsend said.
Additionally, Avery Swanson secured another first place in Humorous Interpretation with her
piece, “Present Tense.” Townsend said Swanson’s piece is a comical retelling of the highs and lows of high school relationships that she executes seamlessly.
Jonah Hicks took first place in Congressional Debate after four sessions of mock congressional debate in a chamber of 20-30 students. Hicks fell just short of quarterfinals’ break in Lincoln-Douglas with a 3-1 preliminary round run.
Riley Delles finished in sixth place in Humorous Interpretation and Benjamin Cat ended in fifth place in storytelling as well. Leona Dalakishvili, Hailey Parsons, Cheyenne Thate and Aidan Morris also earned semifinal breaks in each of their events.
While Park Hill South had a ton of success at Liberty North, there was another tournament at Liberty where the Nguyen sisters took third place in Public Forum debate. Sophia and Sylvia Nguyen debated the topic, “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should
increase its diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve internal armed conflicts in West Asia,” at the largest tournament of the season thus far with nearly 50 schools.
The sisters also spent their week mentoring two new Public Forum debaters – Aidan Morris and Hailey Parsons – who went 3-1 at the novice level. The prior weekend at Van Horn and Fort Osage, Park Hill South Novice ended in second place in sweepstakes.
“This was our first tournament back for the semester, so it was a strong start. Again, Jaelyn Woodley impressed, taking third place in Lincoln-Douglas debate and sixth place in
Student Congress,” Townsend said.
Rin Abrahamson finished in second place in Poetry with her piece. Hailey Parsons and Cheyenne Thate ended in fourth and Cat secured second place in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Benjamin Shepherd earned fourth place in Student Congress and Timmy Tasler was in fifth place in International Extemporaneous Speaking and Original Oratory at Fort Osage. Together, the pair earned third place in Champion Policy Debate, while the Nguyen sisters took third place in Public Forum Debate.
“So, two weekends in and Park Hill South has earned two team awards and a slew of individual
awards. We are super excited to get into February when those qualifier tournaments begin,” Townsend said.