Three members of the Mount Pleasant High School Speech and Debate team competed in the NSDA National Speech and Debate Tournament, June 13-17, in Louisville, KY. The tournament featured over 4700 competitors from 47 states, the District of Columbia, the Northern Marianas, British Columbia, and International schools in Taiwan.

In Policy Debate, the team of Connelly Cowan and Anthony Orellana began day one against 165 teams. In prelims, they debated teams from California (3), Iowa, Nevada, and the Taipei American School to determine if they would advance to elimination rounds. In the six preliminary rounds, each round had 2 judges who would vote for or against a team, for a total of 12 ballots. In order to advance, a team had to have at least 8 “for” ballots. Cowan and Orellana had 8 ballots “for” and would advance to the elimination rounds. They won round 7 against a team from Bozeman, MT, lost round 8 against Blue Valley Southwest in Kansas, won round 9 versus a team from Ohio, and were finally eliminated on a 2-1 decision in round 10 against Bellarmine College Preparatory in California. They finished among the top 22 teams at the tournament, the best finish for a Mount Pleasant team in school history. Cowan, a 2022 MPHS graduate, will attend Georgetown University in the fall where she will compete as a member of the Georgetown Policy Debate team. Orellana will return to MPHS in the fall for his senior year.

Cowan also garnered two individual accolades at Nationals. In Policy Debate, at the end of prelims, speaker awards are given to the individuals with the highest speaker points. Cowan was the 9th ranked speaker in the nation out of 330 individual

competitors, besting her 15th place finish in 2021. She also received a special 4-time qualifier award, given to graduating seniors who have competed at the National tournament all four years of high school. Of the over 4700 students in attendance, only 68 earned this prestigious award.

Also competing at the National tournament was Madeline Tumey-Simmons in Dramatic Interpretation. She spent 2 days at the University of Louisville competing against over 250 students from across the United States. Tumey-Simmons will return to MPHS in the fall for her senior year.

The NSDA National tournament wrapped up the 2021-2022 year for MPHS Speech and Debate. Returning team members will attend various camps this summer, preparing for the 2022-2023 school year and their first tournament in August. They are coached by Enrique Martinez.

Photo: MP Speech and Debate Nationals team (left to right): Anthony Orellana, Connelly Cowan, and Madeline Tumey-Simmons