SOLON — During a season-end speech and debate tournament, Solon High School worked its way into a group of only 20 schools in the country to earn a Speech School of Excellence Award during the NFL National Speech and Debate Tournament, known as the largest academic competition in the world.
Held in Birmingham, Alabama, the tournament spanned six days of students' summer vacation and was sponsored by Lincoln Financial and the National Forensic League.
A culmination of high school speech and debate activities for close to 120,000 students from around the United States, the 2013 tournament included more than 3,000 students from 967 high schools, as well as youths from 20 international schools in countries such as China and Korea.
To attend, students had to place among the top competitors at one of 109 district tournaments.
Qualifiers competed in one of 11 main events, including Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, Congressional Debate-House, Congressional Debate-Senate, Original Oratory, United States Extemporaneous Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, and Duo Interpretation — as well as seven consolation and supplemental events.
Soon-to-be senior Eric Wang was a semifinalist in the International Extemporaneous Speaking competition, placing ninth in the country and automatically qualifying for the national speech and debate tournament that will be held in Kansas City next year.
Rising senior London Christian was a quarter-finalist in the Dramatic Interpretation competition, placing in the top 30 in the country. Meanwhile, 2013 graduate Ojas Sathe was an octo-finalist, ranking in the top 60 nationwide in the International Extemporaneous Speaking event. In addition, Sathe placed as a semi-finalist and seventh in the country in an Extemporaneous Commentary supplemental event.
This was the high school's fifth year in a row competing at the national level, and its seventh time total since the club's inception.
Coach Daniel Ceci said Solon's speech and debate program keeps growing. In total, it has tripled from 25 to 75 participants.
"We're glad that it's growing, but now we have to turn down some students since we're only allowed to bring a certain number of kids to each tournament," Ceci said. "I'm actually overcapacity."
Speech and debate is an extracurricular program at Solon High School, with students dedicating practice time outside of normal school hours.
Six youths contributed to this year's success at nationals, and while not all of the students earned individual awards, their cumulative performance contributed to the team award.
"It's very much so an individual competition, but at the end of the day, it's also a team event," Ceci said.
This year, Ceci mixed things up by relying more on student leadership, including guidance from seven student event captains. "By giving extra time and effort, they were able to build not only themselves, but also their teammates," he said.
He added student leadership helps ensure students receive more individualized attention. "With having 75 kids, it's hard to see everyone individually. I see kids once each week, while event captains also meet with students once weekly."
Students' skills, engagement in the program and ability to face increasingly talented teams helps bring Solon to the top on a continual basis.
"We've come so far in the past five years. At first we weren't placing as a team, and now we're consistently placing year after year," Ceci said.
"The challenge for this year was to continue that tradition," he added. "It's really about keeping our progress going and building upon our previous success."