NA earns a top school ranking in debate, speech
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North Allegheny is a 2023 Debate School of Excellence, after an exceptional performance at the annual National Speech and Debate Championships in Phoenix in June.
Several students from North Allegheny also won individual school record-breaking honors.
“The Debate School of Excellence award is given to the Top 20 Debate schools as determined by the total points earned by the team’s competitors in debate events, so the only way a school can win this award is if the team can excel in multiple events,” said Dominic Moore, North Allegheny’s speech and debate coach.
North Allegheny was the only Pennsylvania public school district to be recognized as a School of Excellence in either Debate or Speech, he said.
“It was an incredible honor to win this award in my first year as head coach of the North Allegheny Speech and Debate team,” More said.
The National Speech and Debate Tournament challenges top speech and debate students compete to be the best debaters, public speakers, and performers in the country. Out of the 130,000 speech-debate students in the United States, 6,000 competitors earned spots to compete at the national championships, including 17 North Allegheny students.
Students must qualify to participate at regional tournaments.
The Phoenix tournament took place over five days, Moore said.
Students can compete in solo or partner events in both speech and debate and are recognized for their individual or team accomplishments. The collective performance of each school’s competitors is used to evaluate the team, so the team can only succeed if each individual team member succeeds.
To win an award at the national tournament, students must compete in as many as 10 to 15 rounds of competition. Only the top six competitors in each event out of thousands of entrants are recognized on-stage with trophies and a $1,500 scholarship.
This year, North Allegheny 2023 graduates Satvik Palagani and Srivatsa Bellamkonda placed sixth in Public Forum Debate out of 279 entries and were recognized on stage with trophies and scholarships. Palagani and Bellamkonda were not only the best-performing Public Forum team in school history, but also had the highest finish of any competitor from a Western Pennsylvania school.
Other NASD student achievements included:
Kristina Wisniewski, a rising-junior this year, placed 17th after 11 rounds of competition, and rising-senior Siya Jain placed 34th after 10 rounds of competition in Lincoln Douglas Debate out of 280 entries from 225 schools in 44 states.
Shuban Tiwari, a 2023 graduate, was recognized as a Top 25 Policy Debate Speaker out of 356 competitors.
Daksh Goyal, a 2023 graduate, placed 24th in Extemporaneous Debate out of 1,039 entries from 433 schools in 47 states. NASH 2023 graduate Adi Shankara Mallik placed 6th of 1,039 competitors.
Lamees Subeir, a 2023 graduate, advanced to the round of 64 as part of the Pittsburgh Black team in World Schools Debate.
Rajat Reddy, a 2023 graduate, was recognized with a Four-Time Competitor Award, the only NA student to have made the tournament for four consecutive years.