Debate Success

A History of Success

Iowa Forensic League- March 2020

The East High Speech and Debate Team competed at the Iowa Forensic League State tournament in Iowa City against teams across the entire state. East Highreturned home Runner-up State Speech Sweepstakes Champions— 2nd place overall in the State of Iowa!

East High recieved SIX STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS in five events for the State of Iowa

  • In Prose, Alexa Ringling placed 5th, Caleb Baker placed 4th, Leai Britton placed 2nd, and Carter Vanderloo is STATE CHAMPION.
  • In Program of Oral Interpretation, Carter Vanderloo is STATE CHAMPION.
  • In Humorous Interpretation, Whitney Lester is STATE CHAMPION.
  • In Dramatic Interpretation, Jacob Licht placed 3rd, Leai Britton placed 2nd, and Max Braunstein is STATE CHAMPION.
  • In Poetry, Graceyn Stubbe placed 3rd and Janaya Barnes placed 2nd.
  • In Duo Interpretation, Jacob Licht and Claire Hendrich placed 2nd And Max Braunstein and Caleb Baker are STATE CHAMPION.

National Qualifiers Feb 2020

Friday, Feb 14th was the West Iowa National Qualifying tournament for the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament.

The National Debate & Speech Tournament has been held across the country since 1931, and today is the largest academic competition in the world. Each year, more than 4,500 high school students compete in a week-long competition to claim the prestigious title of National Champion within each division. The top 3% of all students in the NSDA qualify for the National Speech and Debate tournament who according to the NSDA “represent the best and brightest young people across the United State and the globe.”

After multiple rounds of competition, students had to be in the TOP TWO in their category in West Iowa to be a National Qualifier. The results:

  • Max Braunstein and Caleb Baker will be going to Nationals in Duo Interpretation (a 10 minute memorized acting category from a script).
  • Jacob Licht and Claire Hendrich will also be going to Nationals in Duo Interpretation!! This means that Sioux City East took both spots in Duo Interpretation.
  • Carter Vanderloo will be going to Nationals in Program of Oral Interpretation (a 10-minute category with pieces of prose and poetry thematically-linked together).
  • Leai Britton will be going to Nationals in Dramatic Interpretation (a 10-minute memorized acting category from a dramatic script).
  • Whitney Lester will be going to Nationals in Humorous Interpretation (a 10-minute memorized acting category from a humorous script).
  • Annabelle Helms will be going to Nationals in Informative Speaking (a 10-minute memorized self-written structured speech with visual aids).
  • Congratulations to Janaya Barnes who is 2nd alternate in Humorous Interpretation.

On March 21st, more students will have the chance to go to Nationals after Congress Qualifiers and the decision on who will be on the Worlds Team.

Whitney Lester and Carter Vanderloo named NSDA Academic All-American

Carter Vanderloo has been bestowed the incredible honor of Academic All-American through the National Speech and Debate Association. In order to receive this award, Carter Vanderloo had to obtain a degree of Superior Distinction (750 points) through the NSDA, complete 5 semesters of high school, have a GPA of over 3.7,  a 27 on the ACT and demonstrate outstanding character and leadership. Carter is joining the 1% of NSDA members who earn this honor. Carter has had an awesome three years on the speech and debate team and has worked very hard to obtain this goal of Academic All American! His many accomplishments on the debate team include IFL State Champion, two time National Qualifier, NIETOC qualifier, and many top placements at tournaments. Please help me in congratulating Carter Vanderloo on becoming Academic All-American.

East High student Whitney Lester has been bestowed the incredible honor of Academic All-American through the National Speech and Debate Association. In order to receive this award, Whitney Lester had to obtain a degree of Superior Distinction (750 points) through the NSDA, complete 5 semesters of high school, have a GPA of over 3.7,  and demonstrate outstanding character and leadership. According to the NSDA “from more than 141,000 student members in the NSDA, fewer than 1% of the students earn the Academic All-American award every year!” As her coach, I am incredibly proud of Whitney and all the hard work, and dedication she has put into the Speech and Debate Team at East High for four years. Please help me in congratulating Whitney Lester on becoming Academic All-American.

Millard West Winter Wonderland Jan 2020

This tournament had over 40 schools present and many categories had around 100 competitors! This was also a National Individual Events Tournament of Champions Bid tournament which allows students a bid to be able to compete at this tournament in Texas in May.

Dramatic Interpretation had over 100 competitors. All Finalist earned a bid to NIETOC in Texas!

  • Max Braunstein placed 5th in Finals. He was top six.
  • Leai Britton placed 4th in Merit Finals. She was top 18.
  • Jacob Licht placed 4th in Consolation Finals. He was top 24.

Humorous Interpretation had around 90 competitors!

  • Claire Hendrich placed 3rd in Consolation Finals. She was top 24! She received a NIETOC Bid!

Program of Oral Interpretation had around 50 competitors. Finalists received a bid to NIETOC in Texas!

  • Carter Vanderloo placed 6th and a bid to NIETOC! He was top 6!

Dowling Paradigm December 2019

This tournament boasted over 550+ competitors, 105 schools, and competitors from 17 different states. Sioux City East had a great time at this amazing tournament.

In two of the largest categories, Program of Oral Interpretation and Dramatic Interpretation, Carter Vanderloo received huge awards. Carter made it to semi-finals in Program of Oral Interpretation receiving a medal. In Dramatic Interpretation, Carter made semi-finals, and went moved on to compete in the finals round placing 2nd overall! He also received a bid to NIETOC in Texas with his placement!

Another huge congratulations goes out to Leai Britton who placed 2nd in Prose and Claire Hendrich who placed 4th in Prose!

These three students, along with one other student from Roosevelt high school, were the only students from Western Iowa who made the final round at this tournament! THIS IS INCREDIBLE and HUGE for the East High Speech and Debate team!

Johnston Dragon Invite Dec 2019

At the Johnston Dragon Invitational, every student placed in the top three, bringing home six awards!

Johnston Dragon Invitational results:

  • Jacob Licht placed 1st in Dramatic Interpretation
  • Carter Vanderloo placed 2nd in Dramatic Interpretation and 3rd in Program of Oral Interpretation
  • Annabelle Helms placed 2nd in Informative
  • Claire Hendrich placed 2nd in Humorous Interpretation
  • Ella Berkenpas and Kennedy Wineland placed 2nd in Duo Interpretation

Heelan November 2019

Debate students competed at the Heelan Invitational. Congratulations to Brandon Vanderveen, Sydney Helt, Lidya Tadesse, Cameren Niemeyer, Caleb Johnson, and Kaitlyn Sanford for being great competitors and representing East high with absolute class and professionalism

  • Congratulations to Katie Lammers for placing first speaker in Novice Congress
  • Congratulations to Devon Harrell for placing second speaker in Novice Congress
  • Congratulations to Ben Shaputis for placing second speaker in Varsity Congress

Roosevelt Tournavelt November 2019

Congratulations to the Sioux City East High Speech and Debate team for an awesome job at Tournavelt at Roosevelt!

Duo Interpretation-
1st Place- Ella Berkenpas and Kennedy Wineland*
3rd Place- Seth Hanson and Brian Nathaniel*

Program of Oral Interpretation-
2nd Place- Carter Vanderloo*
3rd Place- Graceyn Stubbe*
4th Place- Whitney Lester
6th Place- Nyamal Dhol

Dramatic Interpretation-
1st Place- Carter Vanderloo*
2nd Place- Max Braunstein*
3rd Place- Whitney Lester*
4th Place- Jacob Licht
6th Place- Leai Britton

Spontaneous Speaking-
8th Place- Brian Nathaniel

*Students who were in the top 3 also received bids to the TOC (tournament of champions).

Great job to Katie Lammers, Carter Vanderloo, Alexa Ringling, and Whitney Lester who also competed in Public Forum on Saturday!

Nationals 2019

The East High Speech and Debate team had an amazing showing at the competition Dallas National Speech and Debate tournament in Dallas, Texas, All eight of the students who qualified for the tournament and competed (Whitney Lester, Carter Vanderloo, Jacob Licht, Janaya Barnes, Leai Britton, Max Braunstein, Denisse Camarena, and Jordan Abrams) had fantastic rankings in their rounds. 

Students competed in days of back-to-back rounds with the best in the country (only the top 3% of students in the NSDA qualify for this tournament). All eight of our students competed in Supplemental events including Poetry, Prose, and Expository. Whitney Lester advanced to Round five where she was in the top 70 in Poetry. Max Braunstein continued on with competition for eight rounds. 

With almost 400 students in Prose, Max was a National Finalist being in the top six in his category! After competing in his final round on Friday morning, awards were announced at the awards ceremony Friday Night. Max Braunstein finished 3rd in Prose, receiving a $250 scholarship, a beautiful trophy, and recognition for this amazing achievement. 

Activities