CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Thirty students from East and Central high schools in Cheyenne are prepared to square off at an upcoming national speech and debate contest.
Students from the Cheyenne high schools were recognized at Monday night’s regular LCSD1 Board of Trustees meeting. In addition to the students’ achievements, one district faculty member was named the new coach of the year.
Fifteen competitors at Central High qualified for the speech and debate nationals event during the 4A speech and debate tournament at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. The event, which took place in early March, hosted 33 schools from across the state, according to results from the Wyoming High School Activities Association.
Speech & Debate national qualifiers
The Central High students who qualified for nationals include:
- Austin Winsted, Duo Interpretation
- Dalton Dahlman, Big Questions Debate
- Caroline Fay, Public Forum Debate
- Kempton Perriton, Public Forum Debate
- Wyatt Miller, Duo Interpretation
- Meredith Paul, Oratory Debate
- Abilene Odell, Public Forum Debate
- Isabell Conwell, Dramatic Interpretation
- Porter Carson, Humorous Interpretation
- Anu Glennie
- Saimaa Widi
- Zoya Khan
- Thomas Smedley
- Madisen Laird
- Abdullah Khan
One student went above and beyond and clinched a state championship title. Meredith Paul earned the top honor for the original oratory debate category.
East High’s Speech and Debate group was declared Wyoming’s overall champion team. The Cheyenne school won the championship title in 2023 as well.
Like Central High, 15 speech and debate students on East High’s team qualified for nationals:
- Sadie Casey, Big Questions Debate
- Addison Goodman, Humorous Interpretation
- Ella Goodman, Informative Speaking (four-time national qualifier)
- Alyvia Hardy, Humorous Interpretation (four-time national qualifier)
- Solomon Henderson, Program Oral Interpretation
- Natalyia Kopak, Congressional Debate
- Clara Kerschner, Informative Speaking
- Ellie Kerschner, Original Oratory
- Brayden Lyday, Policy Debate
- Adam Pierson, Policy Debate
- Oakley Simons, Dramatic Interpretation (four-time national qualifier)
- Josh Thompson, Duo Interpretation (four-time national qualifier)
- Cristina Welch, Dramatic Interpretation
- Ben Woolsey, Duo Interpretation
- Rosie Zubrod, Informative Speaking
Clara Kerschner, an East High senior, received the title of state champion for informative speaking.
Qualifying students will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, in June for the national tournament.
Coach of the year
Students weren’t the only ones to receive praise Monday night. Central High’s new speech and debate coach, John Watson, was named the district’s coach of the year.
“It’s no small feat,” said Marcus Viney, head coach of East High School, at Monday’s meeting. “It’s really difficult to step in as a speech and debate coach. It’s even more difficult to step [into] a program with such a legacy.”
