PASH Students Excel at National Online Speech & Debate Championship

Students from the Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart Speech and Debate team earned eight awards at the National Online Forensics (NOF) National Championships from May 27 through June 10, 2024 including two Gold Champions - Yidrew C. '24 and Theodore D. '27! More than 50 teams from across the country competed in both the synchronous and asynchronous formats of online speech and debate competition. After competing in the monthly NOF competitions throughout this school year, Princeton Academy had 7 students compete in the synchronous events and had 24 students submit 36 entries in the asynchronous events of the 2024 NOF Championships.

In the synchronous competition, students competed live online in a Zoom-like video platform. Theodore D. ‘27 advanced to the Final Round tied for first place after preliminary rounds and won the Silver Trophy as the National Runner-Up in Elementary Prose Interpretation. Teddy presented an excerpt from Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.
 
Also competing in the synchronous events:

• Justin Z. ‘24 and Felix Y. ‘25 debated federal support for community sports leagues, curriculum integrated renewable energy grants for high schools, teen mental health awareness, and a national entrepreneurship program for young adults, and affordable internet access in legislative chambers of Middle School Congressional Debate
• Maximus W. ‘25 debated both sides of the topic Resolved: In a democracy, a people ought to have the right to secede from their government in Middle School Lincoln Douglas Debate
• Jayden L. ‘25 competed in the event of Middle School Declamation presenting an except of the TEDTalk “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype” by Canwen Xu 
• Vincent L. ‘27 presented his original oration “Rubik’s Cube: A Puzzle for Everyone” in the category of Elementary Informative Speaking
• Salman T. ‘27 delivered an except of the TEDTalk “Changing the Perception of Islam One Conversation at a Time” by Moaaz Elbarbry in the event of Elementary Declamation

In the asynchronous competition, Yidrew C. ‘24 earned the Gold as the National Champion in Asynchronous Debate for his speech arguing in affirmation of the topic Resolved: The United Nations should abolish permanent membership on its Security Council and Justin Z. ‘24 earned the Silver as the National Runner-up in Asynchronous Debate for his speech arguing in affirmation of the topic Resolved: The primary objective of the United States criminal justice system ought to be rehabilitation. 

Jonathan Ivey-Oladeji ‘25 and Jayden L. ‘25 advanced to the Final Round in Middle School Poetry earning the Silver and Bronze awards. Jonathan presented "Lift Off: From the Classroom to the Stars" a spoken word poem by Donovan Livingston while Jayden presented a poetry program incorporating stanzas from “Stereotypically Asian” by Candace Chiang and “What Kind of Asian Are You” by Alex Dang. 

In Elementary Prose Interpretation, Theodore D. ‘27 earned the Gold as National Champion and Layne P. ‘27 earned the Silver as National Runner-up. As he had in the synchronous competition, Teddy presented an excerpt from Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney while Layne presented an excerpt from Dog Man by Dav Pilkey.

Also competing in the asynchronous competition:

• Levi M. ‘24 presented the poem “Constructive Criticism” by J.W. Earnings in Poetry Interpretation and delivered the 2014 National Finalist Oratory “The Silence of our Friends” by Moti Begna in Declamation
• Sam B. ‘25 advocated for a greater visibility of teen mental health in Congressional Debate
• Andrew G. ‘25 recited the 2017 TEDTalk “How Language Shapes the Way We Think” 
• by cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky
• Gonzalo K-P. ‘25 delivered the 2014 TEDTalk “Comics that as ‘What if?’” by Randall Monroe
• In addition to his poetry program, Jayden L. ‘25 also presented the TEDTalk “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype” by Canwen Xu in the event of Middle School Declamation and competed in Impromptu Speaking
• Mathew R. ‘25 presented arguments in Congressional Debate to fund entrepreneurial support for young adults, establish a teen mental health day, and support community sports 
• Luke T. ‘25 delivered the TEDTalk “What it takes to Crush a Pandemic” by Johanna Benesty
• Maximus W. ‘25 argued both sides of the topic Resolved: The primary objective of the United States criminal justice system ought to be rehabilitation in Asynchronous Debate 
• Dylan C. ‘26 presented a program of poems including “Dear Basketball” by Kobe Bryant, “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch, “A Basketball” by Leslie Alexis, and “Basketball” by Erika Johnson
• Zephaniah C. ‘26 presented a selection of poems from Pretend the Ball is Named Jim Crow: The Story of Josh Gibson by Dorian Hairston
• Gregory F. ‘26 advocated for increased entrepreneurial support for young adults in Congressional Debate
• Joseph L. ‘26 presented a selection of poems from The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
• Jesse L. ‘26 delivered the TEDTalk “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” by Tim Urban and an excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua in Prose Interpretation
• Anthony M. ‘26 presented an excerpt from No Limits: The Will to Succeed by Michael Phelps in Prose Interpretation
• Declan S. ‘26 argued in affirmation of a bill for federal support of community sports leagues in Congressional Debate, presented an excerpt from The Sandlot in Prose Interpretation, and delivered the TEDTalk “The Skill of Humor” in Declamation.
• Vincent L. ‘27 presented his original oration “Rubik’s Cube: A Puzzle for Everyone” in the category of Elementary Informative Speaking
• Sean P. ‘27 competed in Elementary Prose Interpretation presenting an excerpt from Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made.
• Salman T. ‘27 delivered an except of the TEDTalk “Changing the Perception of Islam One Conversation at a Time” by Moaaz Elbarbry in the event of Elementary Declamation

 

Watch the NOF Asynchronous Awards Ceremony

Watch the NOF Synchronous Awards Ceremony

 

 

For a few Princeton Academy students there is one final culminating event for this year’s speech and debate season. Seven Hawks will travel to Des Moines, Iowa next week for the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) National Finals which is annually the largest academic competition in the world with over 6,700 students from over 1,500 schools. The middle school division alone has over 1,100 student entries this year.