Fresh off its third trip to the National Speech and Debate Tournament [Public Forum Debate] in Salt Lake City, Mount Si Debate celebrates another great year.
Senior Ruary Thompson headed to Utah right after graduation and joined debate partner, junior Lauren Zinkan, as well as 285 other teams from across the country, for five days of high-level competition.
The debate duo, who had been preparing for weeks, performed exceptionally well, with a 6-6 record that included debating against bigger teams with large coaching staffs and million dollar endorsements.
At the competition Thompson and Zinkan took on the difficult-to-debate case: On balance, a one-day national primary would be more beneficial for the United States than our current presidential primary process.
Now that nationals have finished, Mount Si Speech and Debate is turning its focus, once again, to the future. Back for the second year, MSHS Debate is offering a summer camp for incoming 6th – 10th graders.
It’s a great chance to learn the fundamentals – and all the benefits – of speech and debate… and an opportunity to learn from some of the best debaters at Mount Si.
MSHS alumni, 2015 State Champ and National Finalist Ryan Hartman is returning to help lead the camp, as well as Ruary Thompson and Lauren Zinkan. Plenty of other debate team members will also be helping out.
The 2016 Summer Debate Camp runs Aug 9th-11th from 9AM – 1PM at Mount Si High School and costs $120. More info and registration can be found HERE.
Other Debate Highlights from the SVSD website:
- Seniors Ruary Thompson and Dana Korssjoen competed in the Tournament of Champions in Lexington, KY this spring where Mount Si High School has now been represented for four consecutive years. They competed among the top 100 teams in the nation and came away with a 3-4 record after seven rounds.
- The team wrapped up the year with a total of 94 awards, and four Tournament of Champion (TOC) bids, State quarterfinalists, and National qualifiers.
- New this year…The club inducted 23 students into the National Speech and Debate (NSDA) Honor Roll at their May 31 awards ceremony. Once students earn the required minimum number of points (25) from competitions, they can be inducted and the club will keep track of students’ progress through each level. If a student reaches 1,000 points by graduation, he/she will earn Outstanding Distinction. This year, one student, Ruary Thompson, reached this level for the first time and was presented with Speech and Debate honor cords to wear at graduation.
- Also, the group is exploring interest in creating middle school speech clubs to engage students at younger ages. High school students visited each of the middle schools this spring to share information and promote the upcoming summer camp.
Visit the MSHS Debate Facebook page HERE.
