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VALLEY CITY, N.D. (Nick Lee/NewsDakota.com) – Since 1931, The National Speech and Debate Tournament has elevated the platform of public speaking competition in the United States. Every summer more than 6,000 middle and high school students travel to the largest academic competition in the world to debate current events, voice their views, and share their stories. This year forced the unprecedented move of the National Speech and Debate Tournament to an online format and was the first time in history that such a change had occurred for the NSDA. Valley City High School/Valley City Junior High School was honored to have students selected to represent their respective schools at this prestigious competition.

The Valley City High School Speech team had five members compete in the National Speech and Debate Association Online National Tournament June 14th-20th. These five members were selected by the ND Roughrider NSDA District Committee based on criteria of: last year’s tournament results, competitive data from this year (prior to COVID-19 Cancellations), and other criteria laid out by the district. The five students that were selected to attend the tournament were Luke Plagens (Grade 11- United State Extemporaneous Speaking), Madi Klabo (Grade 10- Original Oratory), Brinklyn Johnson (Grade 10- Original Oratory), Olivia Slyter (Grade 11-Program of Oral Interpretation), and Lillian Kiefert (Grade 11-World Schools Debate). Additionally, two middle school students were selected to compete in the Middle School National Speech and Debate Tournament: Abby Redfearn (Grade 8) and Victoria Sanchez (Grade 7).

Luke Plagens managed to place in the top 30 competitors in Prepared Prompt Speaking. In the middle school, Abby Redfearn advanced through 5 rounds of preliminary competition and was named a finalist in Prepared Mixed Extemporaneous Speaking placing her in the top 10 competitors nationally. This was the inaugural year for Valley City Junior High School at the middle school level and this accomplishment is a huge testament to the program’s strength. We look forward to next year’s possibilities.