Members of Forensics, Syosset High School’s New York State champion speech and debate team, capped their successful year at the national championship of the National Speech and Debate Association in June in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 5,300 students from 1,200 high schools competed, and Syosset placed in the top 40 overall and won the Senator Karl Mundt trophy as the top school in Congressional Debate.
Ten of Syosset’s 16 competitors advanced to elimination rounds, including Ryan Moon, Sahil Rustami, Sarah Schwartzberg and Michael Wang in Worlds Schools Debate. Cooper Scher and Suhail Younus were semi-finalists and Sohail Mohammed was a finalist in Congressional Debate. Ronit Dhulia placed 13th in debates sponsored by the Templeton Foundation. Top honors went to Diya Chadha, who placed 4th in a field of 776 in Extemporaneous Debate, and Iree Mann who, as one of the top six of 250 in the dramatic acting category, performed for a 1,000-person audience in the Broward County Convention Center.
Iree took top honors in the final round of the competition and finished 2nd overall. Lydia Esslinger, the team’s long-time coach-advisor, wishes Iree well on her graduation and notes that the rest of the NDSA qualifiers are returning students who are positioned well to carry on Syosset’s winning tradition.
Photo courtesy of: Syosset School District
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