American Prep Blog

Debate Team

Written by Daniel Bazan | Mar 24, 2023 1:00:00 PM

2023 - Ruby Johnson - D3 World Civ/Geo Teacher & Debate Coach

Huge shoutout to our amazing high school debate team for their incredible performance in March at the State Debate Tournament! They clinched 2nd place overall, wrapping up a fantastic year of achievements! 

Not only did the team excel, but many students also shined in individual events: 

🗣️ Speech events:

  • Keon Matinkhah: 1st in Original Oratory 
  • Marie Zinman: 4th & Jorge Aguirre: 6th in Extemporaneous Speaking
  • Rithya Sriram: 3rd in Impromptu Speaking 

🗨️ Debate events:
  • Keon Matinkhah: 4th & Rithya Sriram: 5th in Student Congress 
  • Christian Scheidecker & Lainey Harmon: 6th in Public Forum Debate 
  • Marie Zinman: 1st in Lincoln-Douglas Debate for the second year in a row!
Join us in celebrating and congratulating our exceptional debate team for their dedication and outstanding performance throughout the year! 

 

February 2023 - Ruby Johnson - D3 World Civ/Geo Teacher & Debate Coach

The Draper 3 Debate team competed this month in regional debate events. 

We are very excited to report that the team placed 1st at Region!  And they won by a significant number of points!  The team will compete at the State level on March 17-18.  Remarkably, the entire team qualified for state in all of their events!  Winning Region is an especially impressive feat given that more than half of our amazing team is in their novice year, (first year) and several others were competing in brand new events or with new partners.  The competition is divided into speech events and debate events.  

APA’s winners In speech events:

Original oratory: Wesley Hanks - 5th, Ruchiraa Chinta - 2nd, and Keon Matinkhah - 1st.

Extemporaneous Speaking: Marie Zinman - 4th

Interpretation (Humorous and Dramatic): Madeline Badger - 5th, and Spencer Headlee - 1st

Impromptu Speaking: Lainey Harmon - 5th, Ana Parra - 4th, Cecily Wagner - 3rd, and Rithya Sriram - 1st

 

APA’s winners in debate events:

Public Forum: Christian Scheidecker and Lainey Harmon - 4th, and Spencer Headlee and Cecily Wagner - 3rd 

Student Congress: Ruchiraa Chinta - 3rd, Keon Matinkhah - 2nd, and Rithya Sriram - 1st 

Lincoln Douglas: Jorge Aguirre - 5th, and Marie Zinman - 1st 

 

Please help us congratulate our Draper 3 Debate team!!!

 

 

 

January 2023 - Ruby Johnson - D3 World Civ/Geo Teacher & Debate Coach

On December 9th and 10th, The Draper 3 High School Debate team competed at the Patriot Powerhouse tournament at Providence Hall. The tournament hosts 30 schools from 2 states and 357 student competitors in 31 events. APA’s team won small school sweeps and came in 5th place overall among 4, 5, and 6a schools. Our students competed in various events, from 45-minute debates dealing with topics in international politics to original oratories to satirical newscasting. Individually, we had many students place in their respective events.

  • Wesley Hanks won 2nd place in novice Congress
  • Rithya Sriram took 4th place in Varsity Declamation
  • Keon Matinkhah won 4th place in Varsity informative speech
  • Jorge Aguirre won third place in Novice Mixed Extemp
  • Rithya Sriram took second in Open Congress
  • Marie Zinman took fifth in Varsity Lincoln Douglas
  • Cecily Wagner took first place in novice declamation
  • Spencer Headlee and Cecily Wagner won 1st place in Novice Public Forum

We also had many Top-Ten finishers, including: 

  • Keon Matinkhah and Ruchiraa Chinta in Varsity Congress
  • Lainey Harmon in Novice Impromptu
  • Manvi Chechi in Varsity Lincoln Douglas
  • Ruchiraa Chinta in Varsity Oratory
  • Marie Zinman and Rithya Sriram in News Anchor
  • Madeline Badger in Varsity Dramatic Interp
  • Marie Zinman in Varsity International Extemp

January Updates - Congratulations to the high school debate team members who competed at the Beetdigger Brawl at Jordan High School over the weekend. The team came in 2nd place overall against 5 and 6a teams. Rithya Sriram and Lainey Harmon had top-ten finishes in Impromptu. Ruchiraa Chinta placed 2nd in Original Oratory, Cecily Wagner, and Spencer Headlee took 3rd in Public Forum, and Marie Zinman placed 2nd in Lincoln Douglas Debate.

The Draper 3 Debate team heads to region debate Friday, February 3rd and region speech next Friday, February 10th. State competitions are scheduled from March 17-18. 

Again, congratulations to the high school debate team!