The 50 members on the Academy’s speech and debate team — as well as their coaches — have racked up significant honors as they head into nationals in June. Over the course of the year, the team participated in 15 national circuit tournaments and six regular season local tournaments. (Watch the video to hear the team review their accomplishments.)
At the State Speech & Debate Championship, the Academy received a School of Excellene Award for the 10th year in a row.
Debate highlights included:
- In Lincoln Douglas Debate, novice debater Nat Perkins ’23 reached the quarterfinals, varsity debater Naima Pyarali ’22 reached the quarterfinals, and Kira Small ’22 took second in varsity.
- In Public Forum Debate, novice team Helena Tran ’23 and Elizabeth Hiller ’25 advanced to the quarterfinals. At the varsity level, Academy faced Academy in the finals, with Sophia Liem ’23/Noor Ali ’23 and Sofia Wolinski ’22/Ankit Jaiswal ’22 tying for the state title.
- In Policy Debate, the team of eighth graders Darin Eberhardt and Corbett Thomas were state champs at the varsity level. “This is a remarkable achievement,” says Coach Sheridan Johnson. “We could not be more proud of our newest members!”
On the speech side, every Academy competitor advanced to the finals.
- Lynn Zhang ’23 was a finalist in Program Oral Interpretation, with a piece exploring the impact of isolation on adolescents through poems, news, and comedy.
- Naima Pyarali ’22 took fifth in International Extemporaneous Speaking, delivering speeches on Scotland’s independence movement, Russian protests, and the state of WHO in Taiwan.
- Becca Faber ’24 took third in Dramatic Interpretation with a piece about losing agency over our own narratives.
- Addison Fulton ’22 won the state championship in Original Oratory with her speech about the ways education plays into American gender disparity.
At the National Qualifying Tournament students must place first, second, or — if the field is large enough — third in their event to qualify for nationals. Of the 140,000 students who compete nationwide, fewer than five percent qualify. The Academy is sending 14 students!
- Noor Ali ’23
- Becca Faber ’24
- Addison Fulton ’22
- Sophia Liem ’23
- Ankit Jaiswal ’22
- Adeeb Khan ’22
- Lily Nakakura ’22
- Isaiah Nash ’23
- Nat Perkins ’23
- Naima Pyarali ’22
- Diego Sanchez ’22
- Sofia Wolinski ’22
- Brianna Xie ’21
- Lynn Zhang ’23
Elise Matton was awarded Debate Coach of the Year by the New Mexico Speech & Debate Association, and Sheridan Johnson was named NSDA District Coach of the Year, one of eight coaches nationwide.
