Seven members of the Mount Pleasant High School Speech and Debate team competed in the online NSDA National Speech and Debate Tournament, June 14-17, 2021. The tournament was to be held in Des Moines, IA but was changed to an online format due to COVID-19. MP Speech and Debate team members travelled to Dallas for the tournament, competing online from their hotel. The tournament featured 6671 competitors from 1422 schools representing 48 states, the District of Columbia, the Northern Marianas, British Columbia, and International schools in Taiwan and China.

In Policy Debate, the team of Connelly Cowan and Taryn Thurman began day one against 217 teams from across the United States. In prelims, they debated teams from Utah, Missouri, Texas, California, Kansas, and Oklahoma 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 Thurman had 11 ballots “for” and would advance to the elimination rounds, the best prelims finish for the team in three years. They won round 7 against a team from Washington, lost round 8 against a team from Kansas, and were eliminated in round 9 against a team from Minnesota. They finished among the top 51 teams at the tournament. It was the third appearance for Cowan and Thurman at the national tournament and their third national award. Thurman is a 2021 MPHS graduate and will attend Texas A&M University in the fall while Cowan will return to MPHS for her 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 15th ranked speaker in the nation out of 418 individual competitors. In addition, Cowan competed in The Pro Con Challenge, a supplemental speech event in which students present a 3-5 minute affirmative speech and a 3-5 minute negative speech on the same topic. Out of 459 entries, Cowan made it to the quarterfinals, finishing in the top 30 competitors.

Also competing at the National tournament were Reid Pinckard and Anthony Orellana in Lincoln Douglas Debate, Isabella Greco and Taylor Hubbs in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Ryan Sharp in Humorous Interpretation. 2021 MPHS graduates include Pinckard who will attend the University of Arkansas, Greco who will attend the University of Texas at Austin, and Sharp who will attend Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. Hubbs will return to MPHS for her senior year while Orellana will return as a junior.

The NSDA National tournament wrapped up the 2020-2021 year for MPHS Speech and Debate. Returning team members will attend various camps this summer, preparing for the 2021-2022 school year and their first tournament in August. They are coached by Enrique Martinez.

Photo: MP Speech and Debate Nationals team Bottom row, L to R: Taryn Thurman, Isabella Greco, Connelly Cowan

Top row, L to R: Ryan Sharp, Anthony Orellana, Taylor Hubbs, Reid Pinckard