9 Solon Students Heading To Speech, Debate National Tournament

SOLON, OH — The Solon High School Speech and Debate team won the O'Leary Excellence award for having the top students in speech events at a national qualifying event. The Solon team is ranked in the top 100 teams in the nation.

"We’re extremely proud of the consistency of the speech and debate team in reaching the national tournament," said Tamara Strom, a Solon Schools official. "The students have to research and write information in speeches, as well as extemporaneous speaking on the topic. Their skills, in terms of speaking in front of a wide audience, are quite advanced."

Individually, nine Solon High students qualified for the national tournament in Dallas, Texas. The tournament will be held in June.

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Individual qualifiers are: seniors Abaan Saini and Zilong Huang in Congressional Debate, seniors Neha Gupta and Kayla Arenschield in World Schools Debate, junior Megan Wiser in Program Oral Interpretation, and seniors Brendan Wang, Colton Wang, Anna Vradi with sophomore Nandana Ahuja in Duo Debate.

Solon High also has several alternates for the national tournament: Madison Bolden, Seth Rendon, Orimilio Oresanya, Rachel Wilson, Carly Stewart, Anushree Jakate and Jack Williams.

"Part of how students learn today is communication. From the time they’re in kindergarten, as part of their regular education process, they have to share and communicate their thinking with peers, teachers and parents," Strom said. "It’s not enough to just know the answer, you have to be able to explain your thinking and communicate it, clearly. Growing up with that expectation of the learning process plays into success in Speech & Debate, and other groups like Mock Trial."