Seattle Academy Hosts Largest Speech and Debate Tournament in Washington State

Held this past November, the Seattle Academy Speech and Debate Invitational was an outstanding success. Over five hundred students, representing thirty-eight schools and three states and provinces, attended the tournament, making for SAAS’s largest forensic tournament ever, and it is expected to be the largest tournament in the state this season. Competition over the weekend was high caliber, and students competed in four debate formats. Debate topics were diverse, focusing on anything from fossil fuel subsidies to U.S. cyber operations. SAAS speech students were also in force, presenting in ten different speech events with themes ranging from orations on video game criticism to interpretations on the role of language in our lives.

It’s happening right now! The Seattle Academy Speech and Debate Invitational is off to a great start. 38 schools and 503 students! pic.twitter.com/bYrgYzLxMP

— SAAS Speech & Debate (@SAASSpeech) November 16, 2019

Our students had great results. In speech, Charlotte Jennings ’22 was a finalist in Oral Interpretation, Brett Han ’23 was a finalist in Informative Speaking, Leah Glasser ’22 was a finalist in Oratory, Zephyr Gilmore ’21 was a finalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Avery Berg ’23 was a finalist in Oratory.

In debate, Stella Horns ’20 and Lucas Sherman ’20 were finalists in Student Congress, Emma Thompson ’23 and Sam Ceballos-Lewin ’23 were quarterfinalists in Public Forum debate, Oliver Hamilton ‘20 took second place in Lincoln Douglas debate, and Sachin Zachariah ’21 was the champion in Lincoln Douglas debate.