Westlake Students Qualify For Speech & Debate State Tournament

WESTLAKE, OH - Westlake High School will be sending five members of its Speech & Debate team to the Ohio High School Speech League State Tournament.

According to the Ohio High School Speech League, there are four types of debate and nine types of individual events among high schools. Last year's Team Sweepstakes winner was Hawken School, which won that event by a wide margin.

For Westlake this year, juniors Valentina Wolf and Shawn Walls will take part in the Public Forum Debate. Junior Avi Kirpekar and sophomore Jonah Petty will compete in the Congressional Debate. Finally, sophomore Thomas Hanson will compete in US Extemporaneous Speech.

The state competition will be held March 3-4 at Berea-Midpark High School and Olmsted Falls High School. The award cermony will be held March 4 at Olmsted Falls Performing Arts Center.

The Westlake students qualified for state competition after they placed at a tournament at Lincoln West. Social Studies teacher Amber Greene advises the team.

Photo from Westlake Schools