SCS lauds NJSDA team anew

Saipan Community School students again gave a good account of themselves during the latest qualifying round of the National Junior Speech and Debate Association competition held last Jan. 21 at the Dandan Middle School.

Eleven of the school’s NJSDA team’s members finished in the Top 5 with Maxine Rabago coming in first place in both the Original Oratory and Impromptu B competitions and second place in the Prose Masters A.

Her fellow eighth grader, Shaina Lee, finished first in Prose Masters A and bagged third place in Dramatic Interpretation A and fourth place in Storytelling A.

Vinson Bacani and James Park, another pair of eighth graders, came second in Duo Interpretation B. Park also finished first in both the Humorous Interpretation A and Poetry Masters C, while Bacani was fifth in Prose Masters A

Eighth grader Mark Nam took home two third place finishes in Humorous Interpretation and Impromptu C.

A couple of seventh graders also impressed, with Tina Zhen finishing third in Storytelling A and fourth in both Poetry Masters C and Impromptu A.

Moon Zeng, meanwhile, came in fifth place in three categories: Dramatic Interpretation A, Impromptu C, and Poetry Masters C.

Sixth grader Jesus Sablan was first in Humorous Interpretation B, second in Storytelling B, and second also in Prose Masters B, while classmate Seo Young Baek was second in Humorous Interpretation B and fifth in Poetry Masters A.

Sixth graders Daniel Kang and Rina Park came in second place in Extemporaneous and second place in Poetry Masters C, respectively.

SCS NJSDA team coach Ashley Sikayun congratulated the 11 who finished in the Top 5 of the latest qualifying round.

“The SCS speech team has been working hard all season. It’s always a joy to see their efforts paying off. Their next task is gearing up for the upcoming regional competition in February,” she said.

SCS principal Amanda Dunn also lauded the school’s speech team, adding that their experience in the NJSDA competition comes a long way in building their confidence.

“It was really awesome to see our SCS students challenging themselves and excelling in events such as NJSDA. With every competition I see the students gaining more confidence that spreads far beyond the next meet, we see this confidence in the classroom, our chapel performances, and in other school events! I am very proud of all those who gave their best and for all the Top 5 finishers!” she said.

The SCS speech team’s next event will be the regional competition of the NJSDA starting the week of Feb. 20. SCS holds its NJSDA practices either Thursday or Friday of the week from 2:30pm to 3:30pm.