The Cleveland Cannibals have won their 14th district title April 6 since their first competition in 2010. Especially dominant in their performance this year, our debate team will send 29 students to the state competition. This is the highest number in the program’s history.
Exceptionally satisfied with this year’s results, Speech and Debate coach Patrick Gonzales weighed in on why our program is so successful: “Our debate team worked very closely together, we have always had a communal approach to the training, but our team really improved their skills by testing their material against each other,” he said.
He continued, “There are no bench sitters. The categories in which we compete in are so diverse, everyone who wants to can compete and win trophies. While other schools require a more-rigid schedule for practice, here at Cleveland we actually have Speech and Debate as a class, so there are no auditions. Of course, given that we have around 170 students in our program, our more dedicated core is about 70 people.”
In the speech categories, Ezra Greenhill will compete in state for After Dinner Speaking and Prose Reading, the latter which Qianru Tan also won in. Ethan Daley with Nadia Leclerc and Eliza Raymond with Quinn Keogh will compete for Dual Interpretation at state.
Owen Rowe and Alabaster Richard both won in Dramatic Interpretation, Alvin Chan and Theo Donhowe for Extemporaneous Speaking, Quinn Keogh and Owen Rowe in Humorous Interpretation, Eliza Raymond for Informative speaking, while in Impromptu Speaking Shea Appleyard, Clara Waldron, and Andrew Applebaum qualified.
Melissa Brown qualified in Literary Interpretation, Hamza Akalin and Alabaster Richard in Poetry Interpretation, Addison Clower for Oratory, while Clara Waldron and Lucy Bernardo will go to state for Radio Commentary.
On the debate front Drew Sykes, Mason Lang, and Eugene Fedutinov advanced in Congressional Debate. Quinley Wise and Brooks Patterson together qualified for Cross Examination Debate. Andrew Applebaum, Alvin Chan, and Xander Bartlett will engage further in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Hazel Alperin with Lia Himel and Korbin Towne with Owen Rowe are set up to collaborate in Parliamentary Debate. In Public Forum Debate: Josh Pontefract, Quinn Keogh, Holland McMahon, Clara Waldron, Annika Jacobson, and Eliza Raymond, all successfully moved on to state.
“We really tried to get as many people to qualify for state as we could since we had a really good variety of skills, and our freshmen did excellent as well, so we are looking really good to win that state title,” Greenhill said. “I think that students are really motivated because of the school’s heavy recognition on the program, and when it comes to winning sweepstakes, given our track record of winning eight out of the last ten state titles, that pushes us to cover our bases and achieve great results.”
Cleveland will battle the rest of the state April 18-20. The Clarion went to press before final results were available and will cover the state tournament online at ClevelandClarion.com and in the next issue.