North Allegheny, a school district in Pennsylvania, has achieved great success at the National Speech and Debate Championships held in Phoenix in June. The school received the prestigious title of 2023 Debate School of Excellence due to the exceptional performance of its students in multiple events. North Allegheny was the only public school district in Pennsylvania to receive this recognition in either Debate or Speech.
Dominic Moore, the speech and debate coach at North Allegheny, expressed his delight at winning the award in his first year as head coach. He explained that the Debate School of Excellence award is given to the top 20 debate schools based on the total points earned by the team’s competitors. This means that a school can only win this award if their team excels in multiple events.
The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a platform where top speech and debate students from around the country showcase their skills. Out of 130,000 speech-debate students in the United States, only 6,000 qualified to compete at the national championships. North Allegheny students displayed their talent, with 17 of them earning spots at the tournament. However, to participate at the national level, students must first qualify at regional tournaments.
The Phoenix tournament lasted for five days and featured individual and partner events in both speech and debate. Students received recognition for their individual or team accomplishments, but the overall performance of each school’s competitors was used to evaluate the team as a whole.
Winning an award at the national tournament is no easy feat. Students have to compete in up to 10 to 15 rounds of competition, and only the top six competitors in each event out of thousands of participants are recognized on-stage with trophies and a $1,500 scholarship.
Two North Allegheny 2023 graduates, Satvik Palagani and Srivatsa Bellamkonda, achieved an outstanding sixth-place finish in Public Forum Debate out of 279 entries. Not only were they the best-performing Public Forum team in school history, but they also had the highest finish among all competitors from Western Pennsylvania schools.
Other North Allegheny students also achieved commendable results. Rising-junior Kristina Wisniewski placed 17th in Lincoln Douglas Debate out of 280 entries from 225 schools in 44 states. Siya Jain, a rising-senior, secured the 34th position in the same event after 10 rounds of competition.
In Policy Debate, Shuban Tiwari was recognized as a top 25 speaker out of 356 competitors, while Daksh Goyal placed 24th in Extemporaneous Debate out of 1,039 entries. Adi Shankara Mallik, another 2023 graduate, performed exceptionally well, securing the 6th position out of 1,039 competitors in Extemporaneous Debate.
Additionally, Lamees Subeir, a 2023 graduate, reached the round of 64 as part of the Pittsburgh Black team in World Schools Debate. Rajat Reddy, also a 2023 graduate, received the Four-Time Competitor Award, making him the only North Allegheny student to have made the tournament for four consecutive years.
North Allegheny’s remarkable achievements at the National Speech and Debate Championships highlight their dedication and talent. The district’s commitment to fostering public speaking and debating skills has undoubtedly paid off, earning them the prestigious Debate School of Excellence award. Congratulations to all the students and their coach for their remarkable success on the national stage.
