• March 19, 2019

    USC crowned speech and debate state champs

    Speech & Debate Team The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate team captured its second Pennsylvania High School Speech League Championship in three years on Saturday, March 16, 2019. The team placed first in the Speech Sweepstakes Championship, second in Debate Sweepstakes and took home its second Cumulative Sweepstakes Award, the first coming in 2013.

    Nearly 100 schools participated in the PHSSL Championships, which were held on the campus of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

    In addition to top team awards, Upper St. Clair also earned individual state championships with Paarth Shankar in Extemporaneous Speaking; Riwk Sen in Humorous Interpretation; Hashim Durrani in Dramatic Interpretation; and the team of Devan Ekbote, Mathena Jencka, and Anika Sinha in Parliamentary Debate.

    The complete results are as follows: 

    Public Forum Debate
    Meghan Joon & Dina Leyzarovich, Fifth place 

    Parliamentary Debate
    Devan Ekbote, Mathena Jencka & Anika Sinha, State Champions (Undefeated 7-0)
    Vivek Babu, Sunny Chai & Jami Stout, Third place (Semifinalist)
    Yash Jajoo, Basir Khan & Ayush Sharma, Sixth place 

    Humorous Interpretation
    Riwk Sen, Qualifier, State Champion
    Maddie Nolen, Fourth place 

    Dramatic Interpretation
    Hashim Durrani, State Champion
    Mayka Chaves, Eighth place (Semifinalist) 

    Poetry Interpretation
    Annika Chaves, Fourth place
    Anoushka Sinha, 11th place (Semifinalist) 

    Prose Interpretation
    Richa Mahajan, 11th place (Semifinalist) 

    Informative Oratory
    Neha Patel, 11th place (Semifinalist) 

    Extemporaneous Speaking
    Paarth Shankar, State Champion
    Atharva Barve, 11th place (Semifinalist) 

    Commentary
    Antara Cleetus, Third place 

    Student Congress - House
    Caroline Wolfe, Second place (Superior Speaker) 

    Impromptu Speaking
    Hridhay Reddy, 18th place (Quarterfinalist)