Five Trinity School students who have qualified to compete at the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament in Albuquerque, NM, June 14-19.   They are:

 

Deborah B., '21, Informational Speaking

Danielle B., '21,  Original Oratory

Abi C., '21, Humorous Interpretation

Joseph K., '21, Original Oratory

Hadley W., '23,  Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking

 

To qualify for Nationals, students had to finish in the very top tier of competitors at the NSDA Tall Cotton District Tournament, which was held in Lubbock from February 20-22.  The Tall Cotton District covers the entirety of West Texas and the Panhandle, except for El Paso. Of all the competing schools at Tall Cotton, Trinity tied for qualifying the second most entrants for the National Tournament

 

In the three years since Trinity's program began, its Speech and Debate national qualifiers have grown from one in 2018 to three in 2019, to five in 2020. Coaches are John Klassen and Assistant Coach Lauren Sonka.

 

ABOUT THE QUALIFIERS
Danielle B, Class of 2021
Her Original Oratory is entitled "A Waste of Time," and explains how our slavish service to the "clock" in nearly all aspects of our lives negatively affects physical and mental health. 

Deborah B, Class of 2021   
Her Informational Speech, "The Ugly Truth," discusses how the psychological concept called the "Halo Effect", e.g., our tendency to immediately assume, without evidence, that good-looking people are also smart, often boomerangs, especially to the detriment of people of color. 

 

Hadley W., Class of 2023 
Just a freshman, Hadley competes in Extemporaneous Speaking.  Her final-round required her to prepare, in just 30 minutes, a 5-7 minute cogent speech, delivered without notes, on the following topic:  If the United States withdraws troops from Iraq, how will this affect the balance of power in the Middle East?  

 

Joseph K., Class of 2021
His Original Oratory, "The Point of Mediocrity," argues that Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000 Hour Rule" has cowed us all into believing that it's pointless to learn anything new because we will never be "great" at it when in truth as little as 20 hours of practice at something can make us at least....pretty decent, certainly enough to derive enjoyment and growth.  

 

Abi C., Class of 2021
Her Humorous Interp takes a child's Scooby-Do! book and turns it into a vehicle for hilarious satire.  Her "Shaggy voice" brings down the house every round.