March 20, 2020

46 advance in Speech & Debate  

The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate Team celebrated another successful state and national qualifier season with 46 students earning postseason honors.

“We faced the toughest competition in years during the 2019-2020 speech and debate season and I'm so proud of all the work these kids put in,” Ben Edwards, speech and debate coach, said.

Upper St. Clair students compete in three different leagues – the Pennsylvania High School Speech League (PHSSL), the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) and the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA). Qualifying tournaments for each took place over throughout April and early March.

During each tournament, PHSSL qualifies two in most events, NCFL qualifies six, and NSDA qualifies three. The PHSSL State and NCFL National tournaments have been cancelled due to the coronavirus. The NSDA national tournament is currently set for June 14-19 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The list below reflects all Upper St. Clair High School students who qualified to advance to the respective state or national tournaments. The asterisk denotes tournament champion.

• Vivek Babu (Sr.) - PHSSL Persuasive Speaking, NCFL Original Oratory
• Will Bacdayan (So.) - NCFL Public Forum Debate
• Atharva Barve (Jr.) - PHSSL Extemporaneous Speaking; NCFL Extemporaneous Speaking
• Haley Beardsley (Sr.) - NCFL Duo Interpretation of Literature*
• Saif Bin Hammad (So.) - NSDA International Extemporaneous Speaking Alternate
• Marlena Bononi (Jr.) - PHSSL Dramatic Interpretation
• Sunny Chai (Sr.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate; NCFL Lincoln-Douglas Debate*
• Annika Chaves (Jr.) - PHSSL Dramatic Interpretation*; NCFL Dramatic Performance*; NSDA Dramatic Interpretation*
• Claire Chen (Sr.) - PHSSL Extemporaneous Debate; NCFL Lincoln-Douglas Debate
• Scott Cheung (So.) - NCFL Public Forum Debate Alternate
• Antara Cleetus (Jr.) - PHSSL Commentary*; NCFL Extemporaneous Speaking Alternate; NSDA International Extemporaneous Speaking
• Saif Durrani (So.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate; NCFL Oratorical Declamation
• Ashley Eichberg (So.) - NCFL Policy Debate Alternate
• Devan Ekbote (Sr.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate; NCFL Public Forum Debate; NSDA Public Forum Debate*
• Shreya Golakiya (So.) - NCFL Policy Debate Alternate
• Reshma Gudla (Jr.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate; NCFL Original Oratory Alternate
• Aaron Hall (Sr.) - PHSSL Congress Senate Alternate; NCFL Senate Alternate
• Matt Hornak (Sr.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate*; NCFL Lincoln-Douglas Debate
• Ben Hrehocik (Sr.) - PHSSL Congress House
• Yash Jajoo (Sr.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate; NCFL Public Forum Debate; NSDA Public Forum Debate*
• Shivani Jajoo (So.) - NCFL Duo Interpretation of Literature Alternate
• Mathena Jencka (Sr.) - PHSSL Public Forum Debate*; NSDA Public Forum Debate Alternate
• Ammar Kethavath (So.) - PHSSL News Broadcasting
• Basir Khan (Sr.)- PHSSL Parliamentary Debate*; NSDA Public Forum Debate Alternate; NSDA World Schools Debate
• Qadir Khan (Fr.) - NCFL Policy Debate
• Rushikesh Kulkarni (So.) - PHSSL Extemporaneous Speaking*; NCFL Extemporaneous Speaking Alternate; NSDA International Extemporaneous*
• Shanthi Krishnaswamy (Sr.) - PHSSL Persuasive Speaking*; NCFL Original Oratory; NSDA Original Oratory Alternate
• Esha Lahoti (So.) - NCFL Public Forum Debate
• Alex Lampe (Sr.) - PHSSL Congress House
• Suemin Lee (Sr.) - PHSSL Impromptu Speaking; NCFL Original Oratory Alternate; NSDA Informative Speaking Alternate
• Samuel Levy. (Jr.) - PHSSL Humorous Interpretation; NSDA Humorous Interpretation
• Richa Mahajan (Jr.) - PHSSL Poetry Alternate
• Felipe Mola Curi (So.) - NCFL Duo Interpretation of Literature Alternate
• Anusha Neupane (Sr.) - PHSSL News Broadcasting; NCFL Lincoln-Douglas Debate
• Maddie Nolen (Jr.) - NSDA Humorous Interpretation Alternate
• Dev K. Patel (So.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate; NSDA United States Extemporaneous Speaking
• Dev M. Patel (Sr.) - PHSSL Parliamentary Debate*; NSDA Public Forum Debate Alternate
• Rhea Punjabi (So.) - PHSSL News Broadcasting; NCFL Oratorical Declamation
• Shana Reddy (So.) - PHSSL Informative Speaking*; NSDA Informative Speaking Alternate
• Riwk Sen (Sr.) - PHSSL Humorous Interpretation; NCFL Dramatic Performance; NSDA Humorous Interpretation*
• Nitish Sharma (So.) - NCFL Public Forum Debate Alternate
• Sophia Shi (Jr.) - PHSSL Commentary; NCFL Extemporaneous
• Anika Sinha (Sr.) - PHSSL Public Forum Debate*; NSDA Public Forum Debate Alternate
• Gabi Spina (Sr.) - NCFL Duo Interpretation of Literature*
• Daniel Wang (Fr.) - NCFL Policy Debate
• Parker White (Sr.) - PHSSL Prose Alternate; NCFL Oral Interpretation Alternate; NSDA Program Oral Interpretation Alternate

In addition, Dr. Timothy Wagner, Upper St. Clair High School principal, was named NSDA’s Pittsburgh District Administrator of the Year for his role in supporting speech and debate. Dr. Wagner’s predecessor, Dr. Lou Angelo, earned the same honor in 2018.  

The Upper St. Clair High School Speech & Debate Team is coached by Mr. Edwards, social studies teacher; Dave Watson, English teacher; and Kate Shuey, social studies teacher.