By Quinn O’Hara
From June 16 to 22, seven Clay Center Community High School Speech and Debate students traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to participate in the National Speech and Debate Competition.
Four of those students competed in main events. Morgan Peters and Audrey Wade competed in World Schools Debate, Sam Peters competed in Big Question Debate, and Savei Nyamapoke competed in Oral Interpretation.
Despite none of the four breaking into outrounds, they and the rest of the students were able to continue competing through supplemental events. Morgan Peters and Nyamapoke competed in Poetry, Sam Peters competed in Extemporaneous Commentary, Alessia Carrales competed in Extemporaneous Debate, Wade competed in Impromptu, and Greyson Brandt competed in Prose and Story Telling.
Students also got to attend a speech show called the Des Moines Storytellers Project during their time in Des Moines, and on the way home visited the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska.
CCCHS Speech and Debate Teacher Megan Blackburn said, “we had a really great season this year and I thought that we would get at least a break, and we came really close, but we didn’t. The competition at Nationals is just really, really tough. So, the fact that the students got there and were able to compete at that level is just a reward in itself.”
