Congratulations to the STRIVE Prep - RISE and - SMART speech and debate teams for doing so well at the National Speech and Debate Tournament a couple weeks ago!
More than 6,000 students participate in this prestigious and rigorous competition annually and this year eight STRIVE Prep students competed during the 5-day event.
STRIVE Prep - RISE students:
- Ariana Nungaray-Arias (rising 11th)
- Bethel Boateng (rising 12th)
- Lizbeth Rodriguez (rising 12th)
- Alexander Hernandez-Gonzalez (rising 11th)
- Catherine Montoya-Alvarez (rising 10th)
STRIVE Prep - SMART students:
- Kyla Dominguez (graduated senior)
- Ashley Ramos (rising 12th)
- Jacobo Gracia (rising 11th)
All students performed very well, especially during this difficult virtual year, with both teams finishing in the top half of at least one of the events they competed in. Notably, Ariana broke to double octofinals in Informative Speaking --this means she is ranked in the Top 100 of Informative competitors in the country. Alexander, as a member of one of our NSDA district's World Schools Debate teams, went all the way to triple octofinals and ended up in the Top 35 of all teams in both the U.S. and internationally.
Complete rankings can be found on the national website.
Photos, from left to right, STRIVE Prep - RISE students: Bethel Boateng; Lizbeth Rodriguez; Ariana Nungaray-Arias; Alexander Hernandez-Gonzalez. STRIVE Prep - SMART students: Kyla Dominguez; Ashley Ramos; Jacobo Gracia.