Nine members of Albuquerque Academy’s Speech and Debate Team, including eight members of the Class of 2015, attended the National Tournament in Dallas, TX the week of June 14-19, 2015.
The nine members were: Jessica Berry ’15, Carrie Hicks ’16, Nikka Jumalon ’15, EmmaLia Mariner ’15, Ria Mazumdar ’15, Elena Purcell ’15, Raisa Shah ’15, Grace Su ’15, and Victor Wu ’15.
Ria Mazumdar took 13th in a field of 244 in U.S. Extemporary Speaking. She was one of only two young women to advance to the semi-finals.
Jessica Berry was part of a new event for this year called “World Debate,” which is a five-person team comprising Jess and students from Los Alamos and La Cueva High Schools. The team won the title of the first National Champions in this event. At the award presentation, the founder of USA debate gave Jess her award saying she was the one who “brought it home” and won the debate for the team. Social media for the tournament posted a picture of Jess and commented on her performance and accumulated over 1,000 likes.
Congratulations to all, including coaches Susan Ontiveros, Sheridan Johnson, and Jeremy Pena.
