• April 2, 2018

    Speech & Debate: USC finishes No. 2 in state – six teams advance to nationals

    Speech and Debate Team The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate Team finished second overall at the recent Pennsylvania High School Speech and Language Tournament at Bloomsburg University. This marks the fifth consecutive year that the Panthers have placed among the top two at this state-level competition.

    Six Upper St. Clair teams and/or individuals qualified to compete at the 2018 National Speech & Debate Tournament set for June 17-22, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Advancing to nationals include the following: 

    • Parliamentary debate team of Ethan Bowman, Steven Cheung and Jacob Lantzman, who placed third (semifinalists).
    • Parliamentary debate team of Amanda Ross, Mathena Jencka and Anika Sinha, who tied for fifth (quarterfinalists).
    • Parliamentary debate team of Eshita Chhajlani, Meghan Joon, and Dina Leyzarovich, who tied for fifth (quarterfinalists).
    • Public Forum debate team of Anvi Kumar and Harshini Sakthivel tied for fifth in (quarterfinalists).
    • Daniel Speer, who finished fifth in the State House for Congress.
    • Richa Mahajan, who placed sixth in Poetry finals as a freshman.

    Non-advancing semifinalists were Laura Lapham, seventh in Humor; Charlize Goff, seventh in Prose; Paarth Shankar, ninth in Commentary; Mayka Chaves, 10th in Drama; Neha Patel, 11th in Informative; Ben Holthaus, 12th in Humor; Hashim Durrani, 13th in Drama; and the News Broadcasting team of Aritro Nandi and Nadith Dharmasena, 18th.

    The following students also competed at the state-level competition: Abby Riemer, Spencer Miller, the team of Ariana Chiu and Ava White, Krisha Monpara, John Joyce, Hridhay Reddy and Loren White. Students earned the opportunity to compete at states by registering a top performance at the regional qualifying competition.

    The PHSSL Tournament featured qualifiers from 100 high school – representing 15 districts throughout the commonwealth. In total, 30 Upper St. Clair High School students competed in 21 entries.

    Founded in 1961, the Pennsylvania High School Speech League’s purpose is to stimulate through educational competition an understanding and appreciation of all areas of speech. Membership, which boasts more than 150 schools, is open to any public, private or parochial high school in the state.