Last week, from June 16-21, the Great Bend High School Speech and Debate team competed in the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) tournament in Des Moines, Iowa—the capstone of the Panthers’ 2023-2024 high school speech and debate season. Great Bend High School received special recognition for competing in the National tournament for the 40th time.
The NSDA tournament, known simply as “Nationals,” brings together over 2,000 schools across the country to compete for 42 championship titles. Considered the largest academic competition in the nation, the 2024 NSDA tournament drew over 6,700 participants, making it the biggest tournament to date. The tournament will also be held in Des Moines next summer.
“The NSDA is headquartered in Des Moines, and 2025 will mark our centennial year of providing competitive speech and debate opportunities for youth, so there is no better host than Iowa for these two tournaments,” said J. Scott Wunn, Executive Director of the National Speech & Debate Association.
“We believe that effective communication skills and knowledge of the issues impacting millions of people around the world are essential for empowering young people to become engaged citizens, skilled professionals, and honorable leaders,” said Wunn.
Among the notable alumni of NSDA are figures like Supreme Court justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, media personalities Tom Llamas and Stephen Colbert, and Academy Award winners Jordan Peele and Brad Pitt. The tournament is a moving reminder of how the skills students learn in speech and debate empower them to be change makers, advocates, and future leaders of our world.
“Our students worked tirelessly for the past two months to prepare for this unprecedented level of competition,” said Kim Heath, coach of the Great Bend team. “It’s a testament to their dedication and the skills they’ve honed throughout the season.”
GBHS students competed in congressional debate and individual speech events including duo interpretation, expository speaking, poetry, prose and original spoken word poetry.
The GBHS team was comprised of two recent graduates and three rising seniors. Recent graduate Chrisangel Adame represented West Kansas in the mock Congressional Senate debates. This was his first trip to nationals. After he finished debating in the Senate, he went on to compete in Storytelling and Prose. His prose successfully moved into elimination rounds before he dropped in the double octafinals.
The other recent GBHS graduate was Milena Carbajal. This was Milena’s second trip to the National Tournament in Duo Interpretation. Carbajal’s supplemental event of choice was Poetry. Her interpretation of “Half-Hanged Mary” by Margaret Atwood finished in the top 60 of the nation.
Senior Darcy Feist was Carbajal’s partner in Duo Interpretation. Feist is a veteran of three consecutive Nationals. She performed an expository speech on multi-level marketing after the Duo was eliminated. The speech made it through two rounds of elimination before placing in the top 60. Feist’s memories will include the team building experiences they had as a squad. She explained, “I will remember the bonding moments I had with my team and all the funny moments and days we spent laughing. I am so grateful.”
Also placing in the top 60, was Senior Anna Bitter. Her events included both Poetry and Original Spoken Word Poetry. Her original poem, “Mosaic,” propelled her deep into the elimination rounds.
Reese King was the final competitor for GBHS. Her expository speech about our country’s national parks system finished in the top half of the competitors. King commented on the diversity she experienced at Nationals. “I was able to meet so many new people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I even met a random boy who looked like a carbon copy of me, same suit and everything.”
Competing at Nationals was an “eye-opening experience,” for the Panthers, and much learning and growth was seen during the week. “Diverse competitors from across the country filled every round. Our students were able to observe a variety of different skill sets and bring something back home to share with their teammates. The tournament is such a strong learning experience,” Great Bend speech and debate coach Kim Heath said.
One statement Heath repeated frequently during the tournament is that Nationals is a marathon, not a sprint. The NSDA tournament runs for a full week, as opposed to the one or two-day weekend tournaments the team is used to during the school year. The students focused on staying hydrated, resting, eating well and other healthy behaviors to maintain their stamina for the multiple rounds of competition.
All of the students gave credit to their coaches: Kim Heath, Dan Heath and Pamela Williams, for their unwavering support and belief in their abilities. Anna Bitter said the coaching staff’s determination helped the team members believe that they were “worthy” of competing at Nationals. “The time they spent working in preparation and their willingness to just spend time with us is a testament to how much they believe in us,” she said.
The team members and coaches would also like to thank the Board of Education, whose commitment to educational excellence paved the way for the students’ success. Additionally, the GBHS administration’s unwavering support played a crucial role in preparing the competitors for the prestigious event. Finally, the team also extends heartfelt thanks to generous alumni donors whose contributions ensured that the students had the resources and opportunities needed to excel. These combined efforts have left a lasting impact and served as a reminder to students to pay it forward and support future participants in this activity.
With the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) tournament concluded, the 2023-24 debate and speech season has officially ended. The GBHS Panthers look forward to the upcoming fall debate competitions and are eager to build on their successes.
