• March 2, 2018

    30 qualify to compete at PHSSL state championship

    Speech & Debate Team The Upper St. Clair Speech & Debate Team earned the opportunity to defend its state title. For the eighth consecutive year, the Panthers claimed the Pennsylvania High School Speech and Language District 3 Championship, which was held Saturday, Feb. 24, at Moon Area High School.

    Thirty Upper St. Clair students qualified to compete at the state championship, which is set for March 16-17, at Bloomsburg University. From among a group of local schools in southern Allegheny County, only two or three students from each event qualify for states.

    Individual debate performances included a sweep of Public Forum debate by the teams of district champions Ariana Chiu and Ava White and Harshini Sakthivel. Parliamentary debate was also swept by district champions Amanda Ross, Anika Sinha, and Mathena Jencka and Ethan Bowman, Steven Cheung and Jacob Lantzman. The district championship in Lincoln-Douglas debate went to undefeated district champion Spencer Miller while John Joyce qualified second in Senate. Daniel Speer will represent the team in the House. 

    Equally successful speech performances were put in by Dramatic Interp competitors district champion Hashim Durrani and Mayka Chaves. Humorous Interpretation’s Laura Lapham and Ben Holthaus will also represent the team at states. Charlize Goff qualified second in Prose and Richa Mahajan equaled that finish in Poetry. Commentary was swept by district champion Hridhay Reddy and Paarth Shankar. And, Krisha Monpara qualified in Persuasive while Neha Patel did the same in Informative. 

    There were also many first and second alternates who placed third through fifth in their events: Abby Riemer in Lincoln-Douglas; Yash Jajoo and Devan Ekbote in Policy Debate; Alex Lampe in Senate; Anber Bhuiyan and Aya Dakroub in Duo; Sanjana Gandikota in Poetry; Loren White in Prose; Nadith Dharmasena and Atharva Barve in Extemporaneous; and Shanthi Krishnaswamy in Persuasive.

    This weekend students will participate in the National Catholic Forensic League Qualier at Fort Couch Middle School to earn the opportunity to compete at nationals in Washington, D.C.