Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s Debate team attended the Constellation Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament hosted by the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, from Saturday, Nov. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 10.
The club left for UCF on Friday, Nov. 8 during fourth period, sending two coaches, debate teachers Jacob Abrahams and Chelsea Briggs, as well as 23 students, by coach bus. All competitors had the opportunity to participate in six debate rounds and six speech rounds, including categories such as After Dinner Speech, Impromptu and Congressional Debate.
“I competed in Impromptu,” sophomore Nandini Nagaraj said. “I definitely did well on my projection and improved on my transitions throughout my speeches, but I need to improve on my examples and the amount of time I take to prepare my speech.”
Juniors Samantha Dinnis and Nick Litenski and seniors Siddartha Ojha and Leo Dinh competed in Public Forum. Juniors Colin Crippen and Ayaan Rajwany and senior Jakob Lusskin competed in Extemporaneous. Senior Akash Abhilash competed in After Dinner Speaking. Senior Aesha Bhavsar and junior Manpreet Chhabra competed in Lincoln-Douglas. Juniors Sarah Rosaler and Dhruv Mutha, sophomores Dimitri Francois and Aiden Tau and freshmen Scott Miller and Lindsay Rosaler competed in Congressional Debate. Sophomore Nandini Nagaraj competed in Impromptu.
The school won second place overall. First place winners included Dinnis, Ojha and Crippen, in their respective categories. Rajwany won sixth place, Bhavsar won fifth place and Abhilash and Nagaraj both won fourth place. Litenski, Dinh and Chhabra were quarter-finalists and Lusskin, Tau, Miller, Lindsay Rosaler and Mutha were semi-finalists. Sarah Rosaler and Francois were finalists.
“My favorite part about [the] tournament was getting to see my name on the finals list,” Nagaraj said. “I didn’t think I would be able to do it but getting to share that excitement with my team was a dream come true.”
The team came back to Parkland on Sunday, Nov. 10, after the award ceremony. Overall satisfied with their results, they are now preparing for competitions at Emory and George Mason University.
