Students from The Village School, a pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade private day and boarding school located in Houston’s Energy Corridor, recently excelled at the National Speech and Debate (NSAD) Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona.
Six high school students, including Tanma Rai (9th grade) Advika Sadasivan (11th grade), Adeline Mai (11th grade) Solemei Scamaroni (11th grade) Caleb Anstee (10th grade), and Alex Illacqua (12th grade) helped Village emerge as one of the most successful teams in the country.
Out of the 1,320 schools in attendance, The Village School placed among the top 20, making it the first time in the history of the school for Village to rank this high. The school also had the highest success rate in the tournament as the only team in the country with more than three entries to break 100%.
Of approximately 120,000 students who participate in the NSAD tryouts, only about 5% qualify to participate in the tournament. Village students were among the top 0.6%.
Several Village middle school students also competed and took home top honors, including Overall Speech and Debate Top School of Excellence, Overall Speech School of Excellence, and Overall Debate School of Excellence.
National middle school finalists include:
- Storytelling – Kolade Feyisitan – 1st (National Champion)
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Inaya Rahim – 2nd place
- Impromptu – Kabir Rai – 2nd place
- Humorous Interp – Roger Shen – 5thplace
- Prose – Roger Shen – 3rdplace
- Duo Interp -Roger Shen & Jaidan Doshi- 4thplace
- Duo Interp -Sonya Mittal & Anthony Psyllos – 5thplace
- Original Spoken Word Poetry – Tristan Mai – 3rdplace
- Original Spoken Word Poetry – Kolade Feyisitan – 5thplace
- Program oral interpretation- Tristan Mai – 3rdplace
“We are extremely proud of our speech and debate students for their dedication, passion, and unwavering commitment to honing their skills, which have propelled them to the forefront of excellence. The students have showcased the power of effective communication, critical thinking, and persuasive argumentation, setting an inspiring example for all of our students,” said Bill Debrugge, head of school for The Village School.”
For more information about The Village School, visit www.thevillageschool.com.