Two FTHS Debaters to Represent NJ in Salt Lake City in June

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Shana Kleiner (left) and Jake La Fronz will represent FTHS in Utah this June

This weekend at the 2016 NJ/NSDA District tournament, two students from the Freehold Township Speech & Debate Team qualified for the NSDA National Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Senior and Team President Shana Kleiner became the tournament champion and qualified in Informative Speaking. Junior and Team Historian Jake La Fronz took third place and qualified in International Extemporaneous Speaking. Twenty-seven schools competed for a chance to represent New Jersey in ten different events.

In order to qualify for nationals, students need to finish in the top three in their event except for Informative and Program Oral Interpretation, where students needed to be in the top two.

IMG_1861Other highlights from the tournament include Emily Baum as the first alternate to nationals in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, Rian Weinstein as the first alternate to nationals in Program Oral Interpretation, Sage O’Toole & Tierney Egan as the second alternates to nationals in Public Forum Debate, Kevin Marien as the third alternate to nationals in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking and Hatim Malek as the fourth alternate to nationals in International Extemporaneous Speaking.

The National Debate & Speech Tournament has been held across the country since 1931. Today, more than 3,000 high school students compete in a week-long competition to determine the most prestigious title in high school academics: National Champion. This year the tournament will occur in Salt Lake City, Utah from June 12-17, 2016. More information can be found here: http://www.speechanddebate.org/