Students Qualify for NSDA Tournament and Earn All-American Honors
Recently, Raytown High School and Raytown South High School students qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) Tournament in June of 2021. The tournament will take place virtually this year.
Talking Bluejays who qualified for the national tournament included Riley Harris in Big Questions Debate, Judy Batts in Extemporaneous Debate, Presley Stewart in Original Poetry and Expository, and Shawn Hulen and Tochi Ihekona in Public Forum Debate.
Raytown South High School students who qualified for the national tournament include Breanna Bonner in Informative Speaking and Trinity Houts in Program of Oral Interpretation.
In addition to students competing in the national tournament, NSDA has named Academic All-Americans 2020-2021 school year. In order to receive the award, students must earn the degree of Superior Distinction in the National Speech and Debate Association, maintain at least a 3.7 GPA, and score at least a 27 on the ACT.
The NSDA Academic All-Americans from Raytown High School include Riley Harris. This is the second year in a row Harris has been selected as an NSDA All-American.
The Raytown High School Speech and Debate team is coached by Zachary McGee and Taylor Ambrosi. Raytown South High School Speech and Debate team is coached by Maureen Thomas and assistant coaches Michael Daniels, Helene Slinker, and Austin Steeley.