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Fitch speakers’ success not up for debate
By ABBY SLANKER
The Fitch speech team swept the debate competition en route to third-place finishes in both the Team Sweepstakes and Power Sweepstakes during Canfield’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.
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.
Fitch was especially strong in the debeate competitions.
In the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Ron DeAmicis won the event and teammate Juliana Figueroa finished fourth. In the Public Forum Debate that featured duos, Samantha Devenport and Alina Kielbasa took top honors and Marissa Miner and Eryanne Taft were fifth.
The team of Jacob Clasen and Jacob Reid took third in the Duo Interpretation competition, Joe Soriano was third in the Humor category, Tina Liu finished third in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Autumn Krempasky took fifth in the Oratorical Interpretation event, Jacob Velasco was second in the Prose and Poetry Reading, Caitlin Beckett was third in United States Extemporaneous.
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.