Eight Newman Speech and Debate Competitors Qualify for National Tournament

The Louisiana District of the National Speech and Debate Association held its annual tournament this weekend at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. In each of the 12 events, the top two entries are invited to represent Louisiana at the National Speech and Debate Tournament on June 12-17 in Salt Lake City. Newman enjoyed the following results:

Event finalists:
Avni Shridhar – International Extemporaneous Speaking
Royden Lynch – International Extemporaneous Speaking
Rajan Agrawal – International Extemporaneous Speaking
Avni Shridhar – Informative Speaking (1st alternate to Nationals)
Kevin Qi – US Extemporaneous Speaking (1st alternate to Nationals)
Sam Schaefer – Program of Oral Interpretation (1st alternate to Nationals)
Liam Whalen/James Xiang – Policy Debate (1st alternate to Nationals)

Of the 31 students from across the state who qualified for Nationals, eight of them are from Newman.

The 2015-16 National Qualifiers are:
Kevin Fitzmorris/Royden Lynch – Policy Debate
Rajan Agrawal/Shuzheng Zheng – Policy Debate
Christy Mo – Lincoln Douglas Debate
Laura Arenas – Informative Speaking
Anna November – Original Oratory
Sam Schaefer – Humorous Interpretation

Additionally, the team earned some significant recognition as well:

Speech Sweepstakes – 2nd place
Debate Sweepstakes – 1st place
Overall Sweepstakes – 1st place

Since we do not plan to rest on our laurels, our next challenge is to compete at the State Tournament of Champions. It takes place March 31, April 1, and April 2, at Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans. Come out to MCA and support your Greenies at State.

Please help us congratulate our eight qualifiers and the entire team as well. Although the highest honors belong to these individual students, none would have been accomplished without the rest of the team and the full support of the Newman community.