• May 30, 2019

    Senior places 14th at the national forensics tournament

    Speech & Debate Team Upper St. Clair High School senior Paarth Shankar placed 14th in Extemporaneous Speaking at the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament held May 25-26, 2019, in Milwaukee, Wis. Last year Paarth placed ninth in the same event.

    In total, 30 Upper St. Clair students qualified to compete at the national tournament.

    “Over 550 teams from across the country competed,” Ben Edwards, social studies teacher and team coach, said. “Upper St. Clair qualified 30 students, one of the 10 largest contingents nationally. We broke five competitors to the second day, which I believe is our most ever at a national event.”

    The NCFL sponsors the annual Grand National Tournament on Memorial Day weekend, offering six forensics events and four debate events.

    In addition to Paarth, four other Upper St. Clair High School students finished among the top 50 in their respective events. Annika Chaves placed 25th in Oral Interpretation of Literature. In Dramatic Performance, Mayka Chaves finished 32nd, Hashim Durrani finished 33rd, and Riwk Sen placed 34th.

    Speech & Debate Team Also competing at the tournament were the following: 

    • Student Congress: Caroline Wolfe
    • Oral Interpretation of Literature: Charlize Goff
    • Duo Interpretation: Amelia White & Ellen Duff; Sammy Levy & Marlena Bononi; and Shivani Jajoo & Felipe Mola Curi
    • Original Oratory: Vivek Babu; Aya Dakroub; Shanthi Krishnaswamy; and Neha Patel
    • Extemporaneous Speaking: Meghan Joon
    • Declamation: Atharva Barve; and Patrick Joyce
    • Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Matt Hornak; and Anusha Neupane
    • Public Forum Debate: Yash Jajoo & Devan Ekbote; and Arushi Khaitan & Mallika Matharu
    • Policy Debate: Will Bacdayan & Shreya Golakiya; and Ashley Eichberg & Rhea Punjabi

    Next up for the team is the National Speech & Debate Association National Tournament, which is set for June 16-21, 2019, in Dallas, Texas.