Fair Grove Speech and Debate Team Travels to NSDA Districts

Many students in the Fair Grove High School Speech and Debate competed in the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) Districts. These students traveled to Central High School on March 10-12 to compete.

In the NSDA tournament, there are many different categories. Some include Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Informative Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Program of Oral Interpretation, and United States Extemporaneous Speaking.

Cooper Zumwalt (11), an extremely instrumental student in the Theater and Speech Departments, stated, “It was unlike most tournaments in that it does not have a set round schedule; instead, when the tournament gets enough judges for an event, they will tweet out a start time and schedule. Then, students will report to their rooms and compete in their listed speaking order.”

Along with the tournament being set up differently, the scoring was different as well. In this tournament, there were four preliminary rounds in which your worst score was not accounted for. Stephanie Dunham (10) stated, “There are normally six to eight people in a room. So the scoring is based on whether the best person in the room will get the one and the worst will get the highest number.”

The top 25% of competitors advanced to the next round, which would either be semifinals or finals depending on the amount of entries. After this, the top three competitors in each event then go to Nationals.

Two students, Cooper Zumwalt and Stephanie Dunham, competed in a Duo. They performed a shortened version of the play Angie! written by Don Zolidis. Zumwalt stated, “We portray several different characters and use interesting movements to convey the story. This is the same piece that we will take to the state competition in the Spring.”

Many weeks of preparation go into this competition; due to the fact that these competitions are held year round, many practices are spent perfecting the things that need it. Dunham shared, “Mostly because we have tournaments year round so you have to be constantly working and improving your pieces to be able to do good.”

Dunham also competed in a Dramatic Interpretation event. She said, “My DI is titled Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which speaks on a freshman girl who suffers from the aftermath of sexual assault.”

Due to very tough competition, many of Fair Groves entries did not advance to the final round. However, students Katharina Grubelnk (11) and Kaitlyn Holdt (11) placed fifth in their Duo Interpretation, as well as student Kris Hunter (11) placing fifth in his Program of Oral Interpretation entry.