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Speaking of winning...
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The Canfield Speech and Debate Team hosted its annual speech tournament, which is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Western Mahoning County Jan. 8. The Kiwanis club purchased the trophies for the tournament and Bob Thomas, secretary, and Barb Smith, president, helped with the trophy presentation at the awards ceremony.
By ABBY SLANKER
The Canfield speech and debate team won the Team Sweepstakes title and finished second in the Power Sweepstakes during the school’s annual speech and debate tournament Jan. 8.
The tournament was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Western Mahoning County and was held at both Canfield High School and Canfield Village Middle School.
Nineteen schools participated in this year’s tournament, including Austintown-Fitch, Boardman, Canfield, Cardinal Mooney, Champion, Columbiana, Howland, Jackson-Milton, John F. Kennedy High School, Lakeview, Pa., Liberty, Niles McKinley, Poland Seminary, Slippery Rock Area High School, Pa., South Range, Southeast, Springfield, Ursuline and Youngstown Christian.
“We had a fantastic tournament with roughly 450 students from 19 schools competing,” said Jeremy Hamilton, director, Canfield Speech and Debate Team.
Students competing in the tournament were from grades 9 through 12, and each student competed in only one “event” during the day. There were a total of 12 events in which students compete, including a variety of options such as oratory, acting, political discussion, debates and discussing quotes.
Canfield won the Team Sweepstakes event with 81.75 points to outdistance second-place Howland (80). Fitch (73) was third, Mooney (67.75) took fourth and Niles (67) finished fifth.
In the Power Sweepstakes, Howland (117) won the title, beating Canfield (83) and Fitch (72). Mooney (50) was fourth and Niles (31) finished fifth.
“The results of this tournament, as far as how we performed, are an indication of the talented, dedicated and determined students we have on the Canfield Speech and Debate Team,” said Hamilton. “Students began practicing in September, started competing at the end of October, and are looking forward to a competitive month of January before district tournaments in February and the state tournament in March.
“Such an extensive season involves countless hours of preparation, and the students on this team deserve to be commended for being successful in maintaining a quality, competitive and fun extracurricular activity.”
As is customary, the team which hosts the tournament must come up with a theme for the day. This year’s Canfield tournament was presented with the theme of “Blue’s Clues” and hallways, classrooms and auditorium were decorated with characters from the show, which the team members made.
“I want to thank my assistant coaches, the Speech and Debate Boosters, and the families of the students who all contribute toward the great success our team has achieved and how well the tournament went logistically,” said Hamilton.
Canfield showed its depth in the Impromptu Speaking category, taking three of the top six places. Marisa McGrath won the event, while Chloe Gebacz captured third and Gary Zamary was fifth.
Jillian Smith won the Humor event, while teammate Tim Nesnidol took fifth in the same category.
Kelly Fleming was fifth in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Bailey Sandin finished fifth in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Caroline Bennett was second in Oratorical Interpretation, Jessica Ensley captured third in Original Oratory, the team of Arthur Brant and Maggie Watt took fourth in Public Forum Debate, Nathan Metze was sixth in Student Congress, Jordan Teutsch and Sophia Pilolli took fourth in the Duo Interpretation category, while the team of Amanda Benson and MacKenzie Blaney finished fifth.
The Kate Farragher Memorial Trophy, which is given to the school that improves the most in Team Sweepstakes from last year’s Canfield tournament to this year’s, was awarded to Champion High School. The team improved by 26 points.
According to Bob Thomas, secretary, Kiwanis Club of Western Mahoning County, and Barb Smith, president of the club, the Kiwanis have been sponsoring this tournament for more than 15 years. The club purchased the trophies and Thomas and Smith helped with the trophy presentation at the awards ceremony at the end of the day.
The top six students in each of the 12 events were recognized for their outstanding performances.
“Our club also benefits from sponsoring the tournament because, in turn, winners from the Canfield team present programs at our meetings in the spring,” said Smith.