Yes, that’s a bag of potting soil in the photo above. It’s a good luck charm, and it helped Oak Hill debaters qualify for the National Speech and Debate Tournament, sponsored by the National Speech and Debate Association/National Forensic League (NSDA/NFL), for the fifth consecutive year. The competition will be held in Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 17-22.
To make our four national qualifiers’ participation a reality, we’re trying to raise $2500 to help cover their airfare and lodging costs. Each school year, Oak Hill’s debate team attends nearly 20 ʻregular seasonʼ tournaments. The school pays all our registration fees (which can be substantial) and provides ground transportation, but debaters -- and the team’s volunteer coach -- pay for their own lodging and meals. The costs add up for the debaters and their families. Thus, to ensure they can all attend the national championships, we need to raise the funds to get them there.
This year’s four qualifiers are:
• Daisy Hagen and Katrina Carrier, both sophomores, are one Policy Debate team; and
• Julian Bellavita, a junior, and McKenzie Carrier, a sophomore, another Policy Debate team.
In what was expected to be a ‘rebuilding’ year, our policy debate teams secured both South Oregon NSDA/NFL qualifying slots. Daisy, Katrina, and Julian (the one with the bag of potting soil) are second-year competitors, while McKenzie became one of the few novices to qualify for Nationals. Please help them make this trip a reality!
