Schools

Fundraising Dinner Set for Walnut Creek Debate Stars

Several local kids will be competing at the national level in Chicago. The fundraiser in April will hopefully help defray their travel costs.

Debate students from Walnut Creek's Las Lomas and Northgate high schools, as well as Ygnacio Valley and College Park high schools in Concord and Pleasant Hill, finished strong at the recent National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) National Qualifier debate tournaments in Sacramento.

As these stellar debaters prepare to now travel and compete in Chicago at a national tournament, area organizers are hosting a dinner to help raise funds for the kids' trips, which can run about $1,000 per student.

The group's first annual "Showcase Dinner" is planned for April 17 at Ygnacio Valley High with per-person tickets at $20 for adults, $15 for college students and $10 for students 17 years old and younger. (For ticket information, click here.)

Qualifying at the Sacramento tournament were:

  •  Ygnacio Valley’s Matt Boerand and Paige Oka, Northgate’s Elizabeth Coates and Parisa Banini in Duo Interpretation
  • Northgate’s Alexandra Jacobson and College Park’s Peter Tolentino qualified in Declamation
  • Qualifying in Oratory from Northgate was Ayse Trail. 
  • Darshna Anigol from Las Lomas qualified in Oral Interpretation of Literature. 

All will compete in these events during the NCFL National Speech and Debate Tournament in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend, May 24 to 26. 

Also placing in Declamation were College Park’s Max Morehead, James Andrews, and Josh Christopher. They will serve as runners-up to the qualifiers, placing 5th, 6th and 7th, respectively, overall. 

Placing 8th, overall, in Congress was Andrew Zucker from Northgate.

“This is a great accomplishment for our schools, especially considering the programs are less than 4 years old”, said Dan Leahy, executive director of Impact Through Debate, a local, non-profit organization focused on speech and debate education. 

“Additionally, student participation in this qualifying tournament would not have been possible without the generous donors of Impact Through Debate,” he said.

The goal of ITD is to provide speech and debate education to all students at little to no cost, and the group's organizers support that teaching students speech and debate can change their lives and improve their chances at future success.

For more information, visit:www.impactdebate.org or email contactinfo@impactdebate.org.



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