Flathead speech, debate team honored at nationals
The Flathead High School speech and debate team competed in a national tournament in Philadelphia last week, taking the largest delegation to the competition this year.
The Daily Inter Lake
The Flathead High School speech and debate team competed in a national tournament in Philadelphia last week, taking the largest delegation to the competition this year.
The Kalispell team qualified 15 members to compete for the Montana District team in the National Forensic League National Speech Tournament, the largest single-school representation.
When they returned to Kalispell on Saturday night, they brought home recognition for performances, as well.
Trevor Hunter, a senior competing in Student Congress, was the highest Flathead finisher as he qualified for the semifinal round.
Six others qualified for the octafinal round: Joe Drury and Evan Tice in Public Forum Debate, Nick Malinak and Sean Sullivan in Impromptu, Dan Bothwell in International Extemp and Petie Booth in Original Oratory. All are seniors except Bothwell and Booth, who are juniors.
More honors came to Malinak, who earned academic All-American honors and represented Montana during the opening ceremony at Lincoln Financial Field.
Other competitors:
-Seniors Carson Booth and Aaron Danno qualified for the runoff round in Public Forum Debate, then competed in the Ted Turner International Public Forum Debate Exhibition. They debated six additional rounds, including three rounds against students from Haiti, China and Zimbabwe.
-Seniors Kerri Javorka and Ryan Shearer competed in Duo Interpretation, senior Emily Tutvedt and junior Michael Schwager in Lincoln Douglas Debate, junior Julian Malinak in Student Congress and sophomore Treza Hirsh in U.S. Extemp and Impromptu.
In addition, assistant coach Kelli Kuntz won the NFL Diamond Award, becoming the sixth coach in the past decade to receive the honor.
The cost of the tournament was made possible from fund-raising efforts by the Flathead team, qualifiers and parents.
"This tournament would not have been possible without the generous support of the Flathead community," head coach Greg Adkins said.