Spotlight On Ladue Schools » Forensics

Six LHWHS Students Qualify to National Speech and Debate Tournament

ladmin — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 21:05:24 +0000

The Talking Rams competed in the National Forensic League’s Eastern Missouri Speech and Debate District Tournament in March. Six students qualified to the national tournament, many other students made it to the final round, and the team won multiple honors.

National Qualifiers:
Sarah Allen – Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Chloe An – Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Collin Christner and Sydney Petersen – Duo Interpretation
Jerome Gregory – Original Oratory
Haohang Xu – Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Allen and Gregory were district champions in their respective events. Gregory also qualified in Lincoln-Douglas Debate but students are only permitted to compete in one event at the national tournament.

Other students making it to the final round of their events include:
Sarah Allen and Chloe An – Public Forum Debate
Collin Christner and Sydney Petersen – Public Forum Debate
Benjamin Collinger – International Extemporaneous Speaking
Sam Crowder and Mike Figenshau – Policy Debate
Miriam Hauptman – Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Haohang Xu – Original Oratory

Team Honors:
Leading Chapter Award
Interpretation Sweepstakes, 3rd place
Overall Sweepstakes, 1st place

The national tournament will take place in Birmingham, Alabama in mid-June.

LHWHS Allen Earns Highest Speech and Debate Degree

ladmin — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 21:01:03 +0000

Sarah Allen, senior at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, has earned the highest degree of membership in the National Forensic League (NFL). Allen earned Premier Distinction during the fall 2012 when she attained over 1,500 points. Earning this degree places Allen in the top half of one percent of all members in the NFL. Currently, she has the most points on the Talking Rams.

This news comes as Allen continues to have an incredible senior year. Allen has a bid to Tournament of Champions – Extemporaneous Speaking. She was accepted to George Mason University’s extemporaneous speaking round robin where she placed sixth before placing as a semifinalist in the open tournament and placing third in impromptu speaking. She has also earned a spot at the state and national tournaments in extemporaneous speaking.

Five Speech and Debate Students Qualify for State at District Tournament

Ladue Schools — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:58:50 +0000

On March 2, 2013, the Ladue Horton Watkins High School Speech and Debate Team participated in District tournaments, with five students qualifying for the state competition.

Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking: Sarah Allen – 2nd place
Original Oratory: Jerome Gregory – 3rd place
Radio Speaking: Emily Chu – 4th place
Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Jerome Gregory – semifinalist; and Haohang Xu – 2nd place

The following students also placed in their events:

International Extemporaneous Speaking: Benjamin Collinger – 4th place
Storytelling: Olivia Gada – 7th place
Public Forum Debate: Sarah Allen and Sydney Petersen – quarterfinalists

Speech and Debate Team Kicks Off 2012-13 Second Semester

ladmin — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:12:26 +0000

Fourteen novice members of the Ladue Horton Watkins High School speech and debate team attended Parkway North High School’s Novice Debate Round Robin on January 5, 2013. After only one day of practice following Winter Break, the students competed in six rounds of debate.

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized in the awards ceremony. Freshmen Renee Colby and Jackie Wong placed sixth in Policy Debate. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate three students were awarded medals: freshman Rasika Sant placed sixth; sophomore Tushar Raj earned fourth place, and freshman Huayu Gao received third place. Raj and Gao completed the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record.

The speech and debate team continues their season with the finals round of the Greater Saint Louis Speech League tournament on January 18 and 19, 2013.

LHWHS’ Allen Selected for National Speech Event

Ladue Schools — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:56:14 +0000

Sarah Allen, a senior at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, has been accepted to the George Mason University Extemporaneous Speaking Round Robin. Sarah was selected as one of eight students from across the country to compete in a head-to-head style round robin. Sarah will be expected to be an expert on domestic and international topics – from the economy and elections, to the conflict in Syria and governments in transition around the world.

Emily Bell (class of 2012) was selected to the round robin last year for the second time, so the 2012 round robin marks the third year in a row a Ladue student has been chosen to participate.

Sarah’s senior year of speech and debate is off to a wonderful start. She received first place in her chamber at Oakville High Schools’ Autumn Congress. She also won third place in Public Forum (with her partner, Sydney Petersen) and first place in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking at Parkway West’s Fall Classic. She will next compete at Brentwood High School’s Fall tournament.

LHWHS Speech and Debate Team Starts 2012-13 Season with Success

Ladue Schools — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:51:05 +0000

The Ladue Horton Watkins Speech and Debate Team started off the 2012-13 season with great success. Eleven team members (including four new members) attended Autumn Congress at Oakville High School on Saturday, October 6, 2012. The team earned second place in the Sweepstakes competition which was calculated based on number of entries, submitting student-written legislation, and cumulative speaker points. Arlo Frantz-Greene won second place in his chamber. Sarah Allen and Kisan Thakkar won first place (best speaker) in their respective chambers.

The speech and debate team will attend the first full tournament of the year on October 12 and 13, 2012. The first tournament is the Parkway Classic, co-hosted by Parkway South High School (novice division) and Parkway West High School (varsity division).

Congressional Debate District Tournament

ladmin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:38:28 +0000

Students from Ladue Horton Watkins High School joined their peers in the Saint Louis area to compete in the Congressional Debate District Tournament on Saturday, 25 February 2012. This experience was unique because the Eastern Missouri District holds their Congressional Debate District Tournament in the Capitol Building in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Eleven students from the high school’s speech and debate team, the Talking Rams, were selected by their coach to attend this event. Students wrote legislation on topics ranging from the electoral college and the tax system to mandating voting and promoting peace between Israel and Palestine. Students from Ladue submitted the following legislation:

A Resolution to Abolish Standardized Tests in Order to Accurately Measure One’s Academic Ability

A Bill to Give Statehood to Puerto Rico

Students participated in six hours of congressional debate. The event’s goal is to emulate Congress — Ladue received two seats in the senate and nine in the house. Students then elect a presiding officer — Hou (Ben) Zhang, Luke Song, and Scott Sanchez served as presiding officers of their chambers. Students debate the legislation by giving speeches in affirmation or negation; after speaking, the students are questioned by their peers.

Ladue’s senators were Chloe An and Hou (Ben) Zhang. Representatives from Ladue were Sarah Allen, Emily Bell, Jerome Gregory, Arlo Frantz-Greene, Tianyue (Andy) Mao, Scott Sanchez, Luke Song, Kisan Thakkar, and Toby Zhu.

Judges for the event included Missouri Representatives Cloria Brown and Bert Atkins; legislative assistants Joy Engelby, Danice Granger, Rachel Bauer and Ross Branson; Jefferson City Prosecutor Brian Stumpe, and additional professionals and community members from Jefferson City and Columbia. After six hours of debate, the judges had to choose students who will advance to the national tournament — two students from the senate and four from the house will represent the Eastern Missouri District at the national tournament.

In two weeks, students from Ladue will find out if they were chosen to attend the national tournament! The Talking Rams continue their bid to state and nationals this weekend with MSHSAA Districts and next weekend with NFL Speech and Debate Districts.

Speech and Debate Team Wins Big!

ladmin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:46:26 +0000

The Talking Rams, speech and debate team at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, earned multiple trophies at their last regular season tournament of the 2011-2012 school year!

The final regular season tournament of the year was the Marquette Invitational. This tournament is one of the three biggest in Saint Louis and brings competition from every major area of Saint Louis as well as some schools from Illinois and Kansas.

The following students placed in their events:
- Katie Campbell – 4th place, Regular Lincoln-Douglas Debate
- Ben Collinger and Yuxiao Li – 3rd place, Regular Policy Debate
- Harika Upadhyayula – 4th place, Prose Interpretation
- Sarah Fee and Sayli Sant – 2nd place, Duo Interpretation
- Sayli Sant – 1st place, Radio Broadcast
- Emily Bell – 1st place, Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
- Sarah Allen – 1st place, Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
- Jerome Gregory – 1st place, Original Oratory

The team heads into three weeks of district tournaments — the team is hoping to qualify a strong entry to both the state and national tournaments!

Student Shines at National Tournament

ladmin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:13:53 +0000

Emily Bell (senior, Ladue Horton Watkins High School) was named the Consolation Champion at the Montgomery Bell Academy’s Southern Bell Forum Extemporaneous Speaking Round Robin. Held the first weekend of January, Emily faced challenging competition in facing twenty of the best extemporaneous speakers in the country.

The tournament, held in Nashville, Tennessee, is invitation-only and students must place in other national tournaments in order to be invited. Bell has attended the National Forensic League’s National Tournament the past three years in extemporaneous speaking and has traveled to various tournaments around the country. In 2011 she competed at George Mason University’s Extemporaneous Speaking Round Robin and in the Open Tournament (in which she received 4th place). She has also been invited to the Tournament of Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking multiple times.

Montgomery Bell Academy’s Southern Bell Forum Extemporaneous Speaking Round Robin consisted of ten rounds with both domestic and foreign topics. After six rounds, the tournament was split into the champion bracket and consolation bracket. Bell competed with strength and determination and after the tenth round was named Consolation Champion.

Bell is currently 15th in the national points race in extemporaneous speaking and will be competing in three more tournaments this year with the goal of advancing to the National Forensic League’s National Tournament for a fourth consecutive year.

Speech and Debate Team Wins Big at Local Tournament

ladmin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:12:08 +0000

The Talking Rams came out on top in the Greater Saint Louis Speech League’s Finals Tournament held January 20th and 21st at Ritenour High School. The students faced strong competition but came out on top with four team trophies, eight individual trophies, and high rankings for all students.

The qualifying preliminary rounds were held throughout first semester at various schools. Scores were then examined to determine advancing students. The Talking Rams advanced seven debate entries, five interpretation event events, two Congressional Debate entries, and eight public speaking entries.

Team Honors
- Interpretation Sweepstakes – 3rd place
- Debate Sweepstakes – 2nd place
- Public Speaking Sweepstakes – 1st place
- Overall Sweepstakes – 1st place

Individual Rankings (1st-3rd place received trophies)
Congressional Debate
- Scott Sanchez, 5th place speaker, Chamber Two
- Ben Zhang, 4th place speaker, Chamber One
Debate
- Mike Figenshau and David Streid, 4th place, Policy Debate
- Xunyi Gao and Becca Langsam, 4th place, Public Forum Debate
Interpretation Events
- Sydney Petersen, 5th place, Dramatic Interpretation
- Janine Norman, 1st place, Dramatic Interpretation
- Collin Christner, 4th place, Humorous Interpretation
- Sayli Sant, 1st place, Humorous Interpretation
- Olivia Gada, 1st place, Storytelling
Public Speaking
- Katy Chang, 8th place, Original Oratory
- Harika Upadhyayula, 6th place, Original Oratory
- Jerome Gregory, 4th place, Original Oratory
- David Abraham, 4th place, Extemporaneous Speaking
- Emily Bell, 3rd place, Extemporaneous Speaking
- Sarah Allen, 2nd place, Extemporaneous Speaking
- Emily Chu, 6th place, Radio Speaking
- Sayli Sant, 2nd place, Radio Speaking

The team will compete at Parkview High School’s Bob Bilyeu Winter Classic the last weekend of January followed by Marquette High School’s Invitational on the 17th and 18th of February before heading into three weekends of District Tournaments!