Four MPHS Speech and Debate team members competed in the Texas Forensics Association (TFA) State Tournament during Spring Break. The tournament was held at Alief Taylor High School in Alief, a suburb of Houston, on March 14-16, 2019. Those competing included Tripp Hinton in Poetry, Ja’Quacy Minter in Program of Oral Interpretation (POI), and the team of Connelly Cowan and Taryn Thurman in CX Debate. All were making their first appearance at the TFA State Tournament.
Cowan, a freshman, was named one of the Top 10 speakers at State, earning 7th place out of 210 total speakers.
Hinton, a senior, was named a semifinalist in the Poetry division. This placed him in the top 18 out of 58 competitors at State.
Minter, also a senior, was named a quarterfinalist in POI.
The Texas Forensics Association is open to all public, private and charter schools in Texas. In order to qualify for the State tournament, team members had to compete at qualifying tournaments earlier in the year and earn 12 points. Points are earned every time a student places in an event at a qualifying tournament.
Students at the TFA State tournament are not divided by school type or school size. MPHS team members competed against private schools as well as large 6A programs from across the state.
“It was a great showing for Mount Pleasant High School,” said MPHS Speech and Debate Coach, Cody Morris. “The idea that our school was competing and beating out some of the best programs in the State is a great feeling. We were competitive in every event we entered and that is a great accomplishment.”
Cowan and Thurman will compete at the UIL State CX Debate Tournament in Austin on March 21-23. Hinton and Minter will compete at District on April 4th for a chance to make it to the Regional Tournament later in April.
Photo L to R:
Tripp Hinton, Connelly Cowan, Taryn Thurman, Ja’Quacy Minter