They have spoken
Thirty minutes. Three topics. One choice. The pressure is on, but you’ve been practicing for this for months. Your note cards are arranged in perfect order, and you take the plunge.
North Platte High School Speech and Debate team is sending two students to the 2016 National Speech Qualifying Tournament in Utah this June. Freshmen Drake Berry and junior Andrew Phares will be competing in an extemporaneous event, where they have 30 minutes to make a speech with no online resources.
Berry will be competing in the Extemporaneous Domestic category, which is a wide range of political topics from within the United States. “I didn’t think I’d qualify…it’s an amazing experience for this to happen,” said Berry.
Phares will be competing in the International Extemporaneous event, which covers worldwide political issues, such as ISIS, and current events happening around the world. Phares went to Nationals last year and was very happy at the chance to go again. “I was a little nervous, but happy when I found out I qualified,” said Phares. NPHS director of debate David Cooper said he was proud of all the students who competed. “Andrew and Drake have worked extremely hard to demonstrate how hard work will lead to success,” he said.