Local high school students participate in debate and speech tournament
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI)-Local high school students participated in the Black Snake Speech and Debate Tournament at Idaho State University this weekend, the largest tournament of its kind in Idaho.
The event brought over 600 high school students around the region and surrounding states a friendly "duke it out" verbal competition.
Event planners say it requires hundreds of people to make the activity a success, but seeing an impact in the lives of the students makes all the hard work worth it.
Marcy Kerr, the tournament director said, "They know that it's going to be something that they need, whether it is talking in a staff meeting for three minutes or talking in front of a group of people."
Most students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have different goals in their career pursuits.
"Most of them know they're not going to go into politics, and they're not going to become attorneys," Kerr said. Some of my debate partners from college are E.R. doctors, and just the ability to maintain composure under stress is absolutely phenomenal."
The event is similar to sports such as wrestling or the NCAA Men's Basketball March Madness Tournament, as the event hosted 90 different matches at the same time, in a bracket format.
Students debated in five different rounds ranging to about 45 minutes to 90 minutes against different opponents.
The winners of each award are shown below.
Results from Black Snake Speech and debate Tournament held at ISU Friday and Saturday
Open Policy Debate
1st - Saldana and Hansen - Rigby High School
Novice Congressional Debate
1st -Rome McLean -Madison High School
Open Congressional
1st -Elijah Buchanan - Pocatello High School
JV Lincoln-Douglas
1st - Jude Wolfe - High School Unknown
JV Public Forum
1st -Vasquez and Hill - Rigby High School
Novice Lincoln-Douglas
1st -Maxwell Potter - Thunder Ridge High School
Novice Policy
1st -Hellstrom- Bradley and Wright - Highland High School
Novice Public Forum
1st - Harris and Kunze - High School Unknown
Open Lincoln-Douglas
1st - Jaden Bills - Rigby High School
Open Policy
1st - Saldana and Hansen - Rigby High School
Open Public Forum
1st - Hadley and Foster - High School Unknown
After Dinner Speaking
1st -Jade Sheppard - Rigby High School
Communication Analysis
1st - Ian Nhok - High School Unknown
Dramatic Interpretation
1st - Hugh Burroughs - High School Unknown
Duo Interpretation
1st -Radford and Saldana - Rigby High School
Extemporaneous Speaking
1st - Noah Cory - High School Unknown
Humorous Interpretation
1st -Ian Nhok - High School Unknown
Impromptu Speaking
1st - Brady Foster - High School Unknown
Informative Speaking
1st -Thao Dang -Thunder Ridge High School
Original Oratory
1st - Brianna Vasquez -Rigby High School
Program Oral Interpretation
1st - Quinn Fastnow - High School Unknown
Radio Broadcast Journalism
1st - Jaden Bills - Rigby High School
Retold Story
1st - Thomas Harris - Rigby High School
Sales Speaking
1st - Alex Kuyper - Pocatello High School
