Nearing the end of a successful season, members of the West High Speech and Debate team qualified for nationals at the East Iowa district tournament, which ran virtually from Feb. 11-12. These students have the opportunity to compete at the National Speech & Debate Association’s national tournament, currently scheduled to take place June 12-17 in Louisville, Kentucky. 

The top two entries in each event qualified for nationals. Himani Laroia ’23 and Audrey Parrish ’23 placed first in Dramatic Interpretation and Humorous Interpretation, respectively. Catherine Yang ’23 earned second place in International Extemporaneous Speaking. In Congressional Debate, Pakshal Jain ’22 qualified in House and Advika Shah ’22 in Senate, each championing their event. Maya Chu ’23 and Ashley Seo ’23 were the Policy Debate champions, and Nate Weimar ’23 and Jayden Shin ’23 placed second and first in Lincoln-Douglas debate, respectively. The team of Alice Doresca ’23 and Catherine Yang ’23 came in first in Public Forum.