14 students top NFL finals

Fourteen students from private and public high schools won gold medals in the National Forensic League finals Saturday and will advance to national competitions in Birmingham Alabama in June this year.

In a 10pm ceremony Saturday night at Marianas High School, contest organizers were happy on the turnout which saw 110 competitors in various events.

Mt. Carmel School junior Ryan Ortizo advanced to the national level and will represent the CNMI in the national dramatic interpretation.

Joining him are Marianas Baptist Academy’s Mark Anthony Liban for oratorical speech, MBA’s Jessica Lee for Lincoln Douglas Debate, MBA’s Kim Kang San for humorous interpretation, MBA’s Frank Yeung for international extemporaneous, MBA’s Dencio Manglona for local extemporaneous, Grace Christian Academy’s Bianca Blanco and Oilang Maui for duo interpretation, MCS’ Hazel Marie Doctor for prose, MCS’ John Edward Elenzano for poetry, Calvary Christian Academy’s Genesis Ranjo for expository, MBA’s Maria Cabrera for commentary, Marianas High School’s Joseph Martin for story telling, and MBA’s Jesse Sablan for impromptu speaking.

In all, nine local schools competed in the final round of the event. These include MBA, CCA, MCS, GCA, SIS, Eucon, Kagman High School, MHS, and Saipan Southern High School.

This year marked the 10th year of the local event, which had four preliminary rounds before the Saturday final competition and organized by the National Forensic League board, in collaboration with the Public School System.

It will be Ortizo’s fifth time to represent the islands in the NFL nationals.

He bagged three gold and silver medal last Saturday but relinquished the two other honors for the national competition.

“I’ve been joining since my 7th grade and it’s always a good feeling to be in the national group,” he said and described the honor as wonderful and relieving.

“It’s so relieving and wonderful because after all the rigorous and strenuous competitions, it finally pays off,” he said. Ortizo was also the champion in last week’s Sengebau poetry competition sponsored by the Council for the Humanities.

The junior student from MCS vowed to do his best for the CNMI.

“I expect to do my best [individually] and in our CNMI team so we could represent the Marianas and make them proud that they sent us there,’ he added.

MBA’s Dencio Manglona said receiving the honor is really a great feeling for him.

“It feels really great. Whenever I go to the nationals, it gave me such great experiences. I am excited!” he said.

Manglona was part of the CNMI national team two years ago.

“I’ve met a lot of students [there] who are dedicated to what they do. For me, it was a wonderful learning experience.”

Manglona also won silver for impromptu and bronze medal for poetry competitions.

NFL board chair Harold Easton said last weekend’s event marked a significant increase in competitors in the final rounds from last year’s 90 to this year’s 110.

“It keeps growing and performances are getting better and better every year,” he told Saipan Tribune, adding that local delegates to the national events constantly bring honor to the commonwealth.

“CNMI always get a good place at the nationals and we’re expecting the same and better results from our students,” he said, citing the previous years’ recognitions of local delegates.

Easton said there are approximately 92,000 NFL competitors each year from all states and regions. Inclusion of NMI students in the Top 100 participants in the event is already a major achievement.

NFL also organized the primary grade forensic leagues, math court competitions, thespian contest, national junior forensic league, and the Chamorro/Carolinian language heritage studies events in the CNMI.

Except for the PGFC, the CNMI sends delegates to the national contests every year.

According to Andrew Golden, tab-room coordinator for Western Pacific Region, the “long process” during Saturday’s event was a result of the “greater” number of competitors, especially in the prose events where 46 students competed in the final rounds.

There are four practice events every year for the final event.

Golden said preliminary rounds for the debates started last Thursday while Friday was for speech events. The whole-day elimination rounds all occurred last Saturday where they named students in the final sets.

For the prose event alone, Golden said a total of seven rounds were conducted prior to awarding ceremonies.

The event, he added, is patterned after the national format in the states.

Golden pins his high hope for this year’s delegates to the national events.

“Hopefully we can get our kids into the semifinals again like we did two years ago,” he told Saipan Tribune, citing the importance of the event in developing the students’ public speaking skills, confidence, and better understanding of the English language and being able to perform the English language.