The Ovey Comeaux High School Speech Team competed at the National Speech and Debate Association’s 2023 National Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona, this past week, bringing home some big wins.
The tournament, one of the largest academic competitions in the country, hosts over 6,000 students representing 1,600 schools from across eight different countries.
The competition consists of 17 Main Events, each of which begins with approximately 300 students. The ultimate achievement in Speech and Debate, according to Assistant Principal/Coach Jacob Simon, is to reach the final round, which places a student in the top six competitors in the nation.
Comeaux High has produced 18 National Finalists in the past eight years, including seven National Champions at the NSDA National Tournament. The high school had several students reach the elimination rounds at this year’s National Tournament, including:
- Tanner Adams and River Ingram reached the Octo-Final round of Duo Interpretation (Top 60).
- Avery Bundrick reached the Quarter-Final round of Original Oratory (Top 30)
The Comeaux High Speech Team is the only program from Louisiana to have students reach the final round of the Main Events, as maintained by Assistant Principal/Coach Simon.
Students that reach the final round perform in front of a live audience of over 4,000. Their performances are also live-streamed to an audience of several thousand.
Two Comeaux High School students reached the final round this year and performed for thousands. Both students were also National Finalists last year. 2023 Comeaux High NSDA National Tournament Finalists (top 6) include:
- Jade Ismail in Program Oral Interpretation
- Jade placed 4th overall in the Nation
- Kylan Williams in Dramatic Interpretation
- Kylan Williams is the 2023 National Champion in Dramatic Interpretation
Jade Ismail was also named a National Finalist in the National Speech and Debate Association Student of the Year Competition, narrowing down the field of more than 30,000 graduating seniors who are current members of the NSDA. Considered the highest honor for the activity, finalists compete in an interview in front of a panel six made up of past winners, hall of fame coaches, and other prominent Speech and Debate Alumni. Jade Ismail won the interview competition and is the 2023 NSDA National Student of the Year.
For the seventh consecutive year, Comeaux High School received the National Speech and Debate Association’s Speech School of Excellence Sweepstakes Award, reserved for the top 20 Speech Schools out of the over 1,600 in the competition.
