Quarry Lane Student Headed to National Tournament

Quarry Lane sophomore Allen Abbott took the school’s speech and debate record to new heights as he earned a spot in the 2016 National Speech & Debate Tournament this past Saturday at the state championships in San Francisco. With this win, Allen has become the first member of the school’s program to compete at the prestigious tournament.

Allen advanced to the national championship in the Dramatic Interpretation division with his interpretation of a piece entitled, “Losing My Mind”, based on an anecdotal story of a man who shared his story of battling Alzheimer’s disease.

The National Speech & Debate Tournament is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of middle and high school speech and debate programs across the country. More than 3,300 high school students are expected to compete in the week-long competition which will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah from June 12th through 17th.

“It’s fitting that Allen Abbott is the first member of our young program to reach the National Speech and Debate Tournament, since he has put Quarry Lane on the map by representing us in so many top-flight competitions across the country,” says Mike Smith, Quarry Lane instructor and coach of Quarry Lane’s speech and debate program. “We will be well represented at the Nationals stage by such a fine speaker and such a fine young man.”

Mr. Smith, along with two Quarry Lane seniors—Tanishka Chellani and Meha Ahluwalia—were instrumental in building the speech and debate program at Quarry Lane three years ago with only a single entry in their first tournament. The program quickly gained momentum and has since earned a reputation as a formidable team among the competition circuit. Based on its Golden Gate Speech Association regular season record of earning 56 awards from 82 entries, Quarry Lane was recently named the #1 Public Forum debate program among all Bay Area small schools. In addition, the school expanded the program by adding a middle school level course this year. Sixteen of the 21 students in the course will compete at the high school level in the upcoming Santa Clara University national invitational tournament.

In addition to Allen’s placement at the National Speech & Debate Tournament, Quarry Lane has one more national qualifying debate tournament, three spots at the California High School Speech Association 2016 State Tournament, plus 10 spots at the Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament left to go this year. “As much as we’ve accomplished so far,” said Mr. Smith, “we’re even more excited about how many younger students are ready to step up for us. It shows how much momentum we’ve built within and beyond our school.”