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Team CNMI breaks into national NSDA qualifier
For the first time, members of Team CNMI advanced out of main event preliminary rounds, breaking into a qualifying round in the annual National Speech and Debate Association National Competition.
According to Harold Easton, regional coordinator of the Speech and Debate Association, qualifiers or main events of the NSDA nationals have always been a challenge and no CNMI national team member has advanced or broken into a main event before.
Kate Ishida and Esther Park made the CNMI’s first qualifier break, leading the way for Team CNMI by making it past the preliminary rounds and entering into the top 60 of the Duo Interpretation Main Event.
“After their video competed in eight judging flights, Ishida and Park ‘broke’ and made the round of the Top 60 in Duo Interpretation before elimination. [This is] the first ‘break’ in main events ever for the CNMI,” Easton said.
The pair bested between 150 and 180 competitors before eliminations.
In addition, Team CNMI’s Shea Hartig and Jonathan Wolf made it through four solid rounds in the Original Oratory and Humorous Interpretation Qualifiers, respectively.
James Keaton made it through two rounds of the United States Extemporaneous Speech Qualifier, while Anastasiia Shamanaeva won the first round of the Lincoln Douglas Debate Qualifier.
Team CNMI also broke into the Supplemental Events with Na Lee (Christy) Lee for Prose Reading, Victoria Santos for Story Telling, Shea Hartig for Prepared Prompt Speech, Dane Hodges for Storytelling, and Jonathan Wolf for Prose Reading All broke into the round of the Top 60 and this put them ahead of 82 to 223 competitors.
Maria Elizabeth Bonto for Prepared Prompt Speech, James Keaton for Prepared Commentary, Jill Mallari for Expository Speech, Victoria Santos for Expository Speech, and Amy Soliman for Poetry Reading also almost made the “break.”
Easton said Team CNMI placed well among the 5,316 entrants who competed in this virtual tournament.
This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSDA National Competition shifted to a virtual platform.
The CNMI Team had representatives from Grace Christian Academy, Marianas High School, and Mount Carmel School.
