CNMI speech team concludes nat’t tilt with honors

The CNMI’s National Speech and Debate Association team recently concluded their weeklong trip to Dallas, Texas as a part of the annual speech and debate tilt that brought in more than 6,000 students from around the globe this year. The 14 junior high and 16 high school orators competed in categories ranging from poetry and impromptu speaking to prose interpretation and international extemporaneous speaking.

“The students represented their schools and their island with pride and honor,” Pacific-Island District chair Harold Easton told Saipan Tribune.

Marianas High School’s Robert Malate and Arianne Reyes along with Kagman High School’s Elizabeth Rose Jones advanced to the top 200 in the nation in poetry reading.

Cathryn Javier from Mount Carmel School made it to the top 200 in Prose Reading, while Issac Jang from Saipan International School advanced to the top 140 students in the same category.

In impromptu speaking, MCS’ Thomas Manglona and Cathryn Javier along with Saipan Southern High School’s Karrina Punzalon made the round of the top 200 competitors.

Elizabeth Rose Jones, Grace Christian Academy’s Yu Jin Lee, and Jayrald Mercene, from MHS, made it to the top 100 in the story telling category. Rebecca Kim from Northern Marianas Academy made the story telling round of the top 40 in the nation.

For the junior high school division, Hopwood Junior High School’s Kelvin Wolf and Kate Ishida from Saipan Community School made the quarterfinals, which is the top 24 in the nation, for the humorous interpretation category.

Kelvin Wolf and Jerimiah Fernandez made it to the quarterfinals in duo interpretation. Wolf also advanced to the semifinals in story telling.

“All in all the team did quite well finishing in the top percentiles amount the thousands of students who competed over the past year from around the world and the nearly 6,000 who competed in Dallas,” Easton said.

Kagman High School parent coach Joy Jones described her first national experience as “great for the students.” She added, “They worked really hard in preparation and then saw their hard work pay off. I was very proud of their efforts and performances.”

NJSDA coach Victoria Nishida expressed similar sentiments.

“These middle school students are the best among the best of the nation. Seeing our very own students competing with them and winning against them is such a wonderful experience,” she said.” This competition is a great learning experience for our students. Every time they compete in the national level, they learn new strategies, new style, new expectations. They become more ambitious and more competitive.”

Former national champion and veteran orator Yujin Lee told Saipan Tribune the she hopes to represent the islands next year as well. “This year’s competition really motivated me and made me realize that I should work harder to achieve my goals,” she said.

This year, Kagman High School and Northern Marianas Academy marked their first year of having students compete nationally. Prior to arriving in Texas, the team spent many weeks preparing their speeches and literary pieces for performance.

According to tournament officials, this year’s tilt is one of the largest in the organization’s long history. The national speech competition is considered the largest speech and debate tournament in the nation. Thousands of high school students from around the globe take part in its diverse speech categories every year.