Solon Student Wins World Championship In Speech & Debate

SOLON, OH — Solon High School student Kayla Arenschield is now a world champion.

Kayla was part of the Cleveland District World Schools team that took part in the National Speech & Debate tournament in Dallas in late June. Five students from Northeast Ohio were selected to represent the area during the tournament.

In the final round of the tournament, the Cleveland team defeated a coalition from China to win the world championship. Kayla, two students from Vermilion and two students from Hawken can now call themselves world champions.

During the Speech & Debate season, Kayla competed for Solon. Her peers on the Cleveland team also competed for their districts, but all had to come together in preparation for the national tournament in Dallas.

"World Schools Debate features a dynamic form of debate combining the concepts of ‘prepared’ topics with ‘impromptu’ topics, encouraging debaters to focus on specified issues rather than debate theory or procedural arguments,” according to the National Speech & Debate Association. “This highly interactive style of debate allows debaters to engage each other, even during speeches. This challenging format requires good teamwork and in-depth quality argumentation."

During the national tournament, Cleveland's team debated 12 rounds against more than 200 teams from across the U.S. and the glob, including squads from Canada, Mexico and China. Topics of debate included government control of social media during national emergencies, the prospect of a bipartisan unity ticket in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, individual action addressing climate change, reduction of U.S. forces in Syria and removal of voting rights restrictions for incarcerated peoples.