• March 14, 2019

    Seven qualify for national speech tournament

    Speech & Debate Team The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate Team placed second overall with first and second place finishes in speech and debate, respectively, at the Pittsburgh District Tournament held Saturday, March 9, 2019, at Marshall Middle School in the North Allegheny School District.

    At the tournament, which is a qualifying event for the National Speech & Debate Association National Tournament, seven USC students qualified to compete at nationals – the second most in team history. The national tournament is set for June 16-21, 2019, in Dallas, Texas.

    Additional students may qualify for the national tournament when the Student Congress and World Schools Debate events are held on March 23, 2019, at Knoch High School.

    The Pittsburgh District Tournament is comprised of 20 schools from western Pennsylvania – spanning Washington to Erie. Only two students from each event qualify to advance to the national competition. 

    Lincoln-Douglas Debate
    Claire Chen, Second Place, Qualifier
    Anusha Neupane, Third Alternate 

    Public Forum Debate
    Meghan Joon & Mallika Matharu, First Alternate
    Yash Jajoo & Devan Ekbote, Second Alternate
    Basir Khan & Dev Patel, Third Alternate 

    Dramatic Interpretation
    Hashim Durrani, Pittsburgh District Champion, Qualifier
    Mayka Chaves, First Alternate 

    Duo Interpretation
    Felipe Mola Curi & Shivani Jajoo, Second Alternate 

    Humorous Interpretation
    Maddie Nolen, Pittsburgh District Champion, Qualifier
    Samuel Levy, Sixth Place 

    Informative Speaking
    Brooke Christiansen, Sixth Place 

    Original Oratory
    Rhea Punjabi, Sixth Place 

    International Extemporaneous
    Rushikesh Kulkarni, Pittsburgh District Champion, Qualifier
    Antara Cleetus, Third Alternate 

    Domestic Extemporaneous
    Chand Vadalia, Pittsburgh District Champion, Qualifier
    Dev K. Patel, Sixth Place 

    Program Oral Interpretation
    Charlize Goff, Pittsburgh District Champion, Qualifier
    Loren White, First Alternate 

    World Schools Debate
    Yash Jajoo, Auto-Qualification