ACS Debate Team Participated in a US-qualifier Speech Tournament
Six ACS students from eighth and tenth grade competed in a speech and interpretation tournament last weekend at the American University in Blagoevgrad. At this tournament there were only two events: Duo Interpretation and Original Oratory. In both events, a scholarship to send the winners to the United States to compete in the National Speech and Debate Association’s National tournament this summer beckoned contestants to work tremendously hard.
Boyana Atanasova (8th Grade) and Teodora Tyankova (10th Grade) both made it to the semi-finals in Original Oratory. Hale-Seda Radoykova and Ana-Maria Markovska (both in Grade 08) competed in Duo Interpretation for the first time and also qualified for the semi-finals. Mazen Meziad (in Grade 10) and Yordan Georgiev (in Grade 08) also turned in wonderful performances at this tournament. Given the high level of competition at this tournament, the fact that we had so many eighth grade novice performers make it so far is impressive.
Boyana Atanasova channeled the reflection, maturity, and wit of someone very mature and worldly in her personal, earnest speech on forgiveness. Yordan Georgiev used humor to promote awareness of how distracting over reliance on technology for communication can be. Mazen Meziad illustrated the often overlooked dangers of apathy in an inspirational speech. Teodora Tyankova riveted audiences by drawing attention to how racism, intolerance, and division can subliminally lurk in textbooks, challenging all of us to think more critically and value awareness more. Hale-Seda Radoykova and Ana-Maria Markovska, as eighth graders, embraced an admirable challenge in bringing Mark Twain’s humor and cynicism to life in a performance examining humanity’s complicated history and relationship with religion.
Our accomplishments are epic, not just because we had three eighth graders qualify for semi-finals in a nationwide tournament in which they competed against mostly 9th-12th graders, but because they will resonate for years. The most valuable souvenir of this weekend is not only strong motivation for next year, but also reflective. Our students made wonderful strides, not only as performers, but also as competitors and learners. Congratulations!
Adam Saligman,
ACS Debate Team Coach