Stuy S&D Update #6: March 9, 2025

Hello Speech and Debate families and welcome back to the Stuyvesant Speech & Debate update!

As a quick reminder, Grands (3/15) is the only tournament of the year that Stuyvesant hosts, and we always want to show off our amazing hospitality. If you are able to donate food, disposable cutlery, or volunteer your time on Saturday, please click here to sign up. We managed to get enough disposable cutlery and plates, but we still need a lot of food donations for breakfast and lunch as well as beverages, so please sign up as soon as possible if you can! We always feed hundreds of competitors every year and we appreciate any and all donations. 

Our 10 parents and 70 students had a great time at Harvard as we braved the cold weather with trips to Felipe’s, antique map shops, IHOP, and even our rounds. After a nice break with midwinter vacation, Stuyvesant Speech & Debate is back in full force, with some recent locals and Grands coming up Saturday the 15th!

As always, all of the help and support that we receive from this wonderful community goes a very long way. A very special thanks to our principal Dr. Yu, the PA, the alumni association, and Ms. Ingram for making all of this possible, including our amazing trip to Harvard.

Best,

The S&D Team

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Team Updates

Extemp:

At Harvard, Extemp knocked it out of the park! From constant trips to Felipe’s and the bookstore to outings with Speech and LD, the team had fun. We met up and competed with friends from all across the nation with junior Myles Vuong placing in Octafinals and sophomore Caitlyn Chan 1 place away from breaking, and strong showings from Elma Khan, Melanie Xie, Joya Liu, and Nuoyan Chen. We also secured a strong showing at regionals with four full qualifications to States! We are working hard to get ready for Grands and are very excited!

Public Forum:

Public Forum killed it at Harvard! Congratulations to sophomores Lander Bovenzi and Adrien Devery-Michaelson for CHAMPING the JV division! Varsity performed incredibly as well, with juniors Annie Li and Solomon Binyaminov making it to octafinals and seniors Astrid Harrington and Helen Mancini making it to doubles. In novice, congrats to freshmen Calista Harrington and Arya Rajda for making it to doubles, and freshmen Sasha Silakov and Zachary Massim for making it to triples! Special shoutout to Sasha, who was also ranked third speaker overall. The whole team had an amazing time and bonded over ramen and tacos. PF is preparing for upcoming March tournaments, and we can’t wait to keep competing!

Congress:

Stuy Congress kicked off March with two tournaments and SIX total half-qualifications to NYSFL States! At the Brooklyn Debate League tournament on March 5th, our novices and JV delivered amazing performances, with freshmen Charlie Vater and Raisha Tayba gaining half-qualifications to states! 

The day after, Stuy Congress continued our success at the Congress Regionals tournament with freshman Alice Frank, sophomore Eric Lam, and juniors Catherine Chan and Sion Park all gaining full qualifications for the state championships in April! We’re looking forward to Grands next week and hope to continue our amazing performances!

Lincoln Douglas:

LD is back big time! At Harvard, sophomore Kiren Sitwala made it all the way to FINALS in jv and won eighth speaker. Also in jv, sophomore Evelyn Lifton made it to octofinals and was 16th speaker, and sophomores Mufei Yu and Alexis Qian also had positive records!! In varsity, junior Yuna Lee made quads and senior Daniel Zheng was 28th speaker.

At Lakeland, freshman Austin Guo got to quarterfinals in novice LD and was sixth speaker. Also in novice LD, freshman Gianna Guenther won best speaker!! Freshman Ben Hayes also went positive! Lastly, junior Yuna Lee semifinaled the tournament in varsity and was second speaker. We're hard at work preparing for states, with seven novices, five jv LDers, and two varsity LDers qualified. Catch us having a grand time at Grands!!

Parli:

Parliamentary Debate had a wonderful lecture from our coach Rodda this past week, and has been working hard in February and early March. We had a great time at our most recent tournament, with Sophomores Lucas Miller and Alex Georgatos making it all the way to finals, Juniors Zeke Abramowicz and Lar Foster making it to semis, and Sophomores Katelyn Huang and Melody Qu making it to quarterfinals. We are super excited for our packed month of March and hope to keep this success going!

Policy:

Policy had a great time at our last two invitationals of the season, Harvard and Lakeland!

At Harvard, freshmen Angeline Chan and Ivan Huang made it to double octofinals in Novice. In Junior Varsity, sophomores Luca Nedelkovic and Ken Wakida were octofinalists, and juniors Serenity Dingwall (9th speaker!) and Amy Shrestha were quarterfinalists as well. At Lakeland, freshmen Angeline Chan (1st speaker!) and Ivan Huang (2nd speaker!) dominated again. They were the 1st seed out of preliminary rounds, and ended up going on to win the entire tournament! Our varsity teams also got a lot of experience and tips despite some tough pairings. Huge shout out to Salioudian, Kassandra, and our alum Jonathan for making this tournament possible. Cheer us on as we prepare for the National Catholic League Grand Tournament in May!

Speech:

Speech has been attending tournament after tournament as we gear up for the State tournament in April! At the Harvard Invitational, Juniors Amanda Greenberg and Sofia Lawrence made it to Octos in Humorous Interpretation. Amanda also made it to Octos in Original Oratory. At Regionals, Sophomore Daniel Li placed 3rd in Declamation, Junior Ada Gordon received 3rd in Dramatic Interpretation, Junior Henry Santos Hendricks received a full qual in Humorous Interpretation, Junior Ariana Lin placed 2nd, and Senior Renae Leung championed in Varsity Oral Interpretation, all receiving a full qual for States! At Last Chance, Freshmen Tiffany Wang placed 5th and Zoe Yoon placed 3rd in Declamation, with Zoe earning her qual. In Dramatic Performance, Juniors Lily Wagman received 3rd and Audrey Hilger championed, with Audrey qualifying. In Duo Interpretation, Juniors Lily Wagman and Henry Santos Hendricks placed 3rd and Sophomores Mariya Markova and Micah Beirne received 2nd. Finally, in Original Oratory, Senior Eli Lifton championed, earning his full qual. We are so proud of the team for their hard work this season and we look forward to the Grand tournament on our home turf!

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