Needham School Shines In Speech Tournament

NEEDHAM, MA — If the Cambridge Classic Speech Tournament is any indication, the country's future politician, teachers, actors, and motivational speakers might be coming out of Monsignor Haddad Middle School.

The school sent 16 competitors to the annual speech tournament on April 6, and earned gold medals in three of six events. Students won nine of the 18 available medals and had 15 placings in the top 10, more than any other school.

Pat Blomberg, of Wellesley, impressed in his rookie tournament winning the "Volte Face" category. Anna Hvidsten, of Needham, won her third consecutive tournament in "Monlogue" — also placing first in "Duo" with her partner, Lovey Moore, of Needham.

"I love seeing the courage and creativity the students bring to their performance," parent Eileen Scanlon said. "One particularly fun category is ‘Volte Face,’ during which students are given a topic on the spot and argue each side of the thesis for 30 seconds. Wide-ranging topics such as ‘Mom, I should get an I-pad,’ ‘Everyone should try deep sea fishing,’ and ‘We should support our president’ made for a fascinating session."

The entire team had success competing in a group of 75 students from 12 Catholic schools. Paul Rose, the team's coach attributed the success to the students at MHMS, saying their talent and willingness to help each other is rare.

The students at MHMS are stellar young men and women. They are respectful of their teachers, helpful to their peers, and supremely gifted," Rose said. "As a speech and debate coach who's worked with many premier programs, I'd say that MHMS students are par excellence. Working with these talented students has been a joy; and the other coaches and I look forward to speech club every week."

Full student rankings can be found below:

1st Place, Duo Interpretation - Anna Hvidsten and Lovey Moore

1st Place, Volte Face - Pat Blomberg

1st Place, Monologue - Anna Hvidsten

2nd Place, Duo Interpretation - Gustas Bernard and Pat Blomberg

2nd Place, Monologue - Payton Qin

2nd Place, Panel Debate - Gustas Bernard, Payton Qin, and Will Cummings

3rd Place, Duo Interpretation - William Wheeler and Brendan Reichard

3rd Place, Panel Debate - Grace Lynch, Lovey Moore, and Carolyn Rose Simmons

3rd Place, Volte Face - Margaret Lagan

5th Place, Panel Debate - Anna Hvidsten, Pat Blomberg, and Brian Ladino

7th Place, Volte Face - Carolyn Rose Simmons

8th Place, Volte Face - Aidan Murphy

8th Place, Duo Interpretation - Carolyn Rose Simmons and Grace Lynch

9th Place, Monologue - Maegan Horrigan

10th Place, Stand Up Comedy - Brendan Goldner

Other Breaks for Monsignor Haddad Middle School

Monologue Semifinalists - Grace Lynch, Margaret Lagan, Aidan Murphy, Lovey
Moore

Volte Face Semifinalists - Ava Margaret Ricard

Stand Up Semifinalists - William Cummings

Monologue Quarterfinalists - Ava Margaret Ricard, Brendan Reichard, Carolyn
Rose Simmons