Rigel Robinson, Keerthi Gondi, Laura Santangelo, Yasmin Younis and Noreen Webster after qualifying for State.

Five seniors qualified for the annual speech and debate State competition to be held in April at Mizzou.The competitors were selected for any of 10 speech events and three debates.

Speech events range from public address to interpretation and acting. The three debates are Policy, which concerns passing policies in government, Public Forum, in which students take stands on current events, and the Lincoln Douglas, which is about philosophical and moral questions.

“I make my selections for these based in dedication to the team and consistency in practice and performance, so to even be offered the chance to compete is an honor. However, to qualify, the students have to be in the top three or four in their event,” Speech and Debate coach Cara Borgsmiller said.

For events, rooms of six to eight students battle to be in the top half of their group. Students must be top three of seven, or top four of eight in order to move on. For debate, the students participate in four preliminary rounds, and only those who win their quarterfinals round advance to state.

“As a sophomore, I qualified in Humorous Interpretation and Storytelling, and last year I qualified in Humorous Interpretation and Duet Acting. This year I qualified for Humorous Interpretation for the third time,” senior, District Champion in Humorous Interpretation, Rigel Robinson said.

Along with Robinson, seniors Keerthi Gondi, Laura Santangelo, Noreen Webster and Yasmin Younis also qualified. Keerthi Gondi qualified solo as the District Champion in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking, and also qualified with Lauren Santangelo in Policy Debate, which the duo won. Yasmin Younis qualified as the District Champion in Dramatic Interpretation, and Noreen Webster placed third in Original Oratory.

“The competition is always subjective, but I’m hoping to go far. Anything is possible, really. My goal is to make it to finals at state. It’s my senior year- I want to go out with a bang!” Younis said.

The seniors prepared for the district-wide state-qualifying tournament with extensive practice.

“For my debates I make outlines and discuss ideas with Borgsmiller and my teammates, and for my events I try to practice and perform in front of as many audiences as possible,” Younis said.

This is the last year the five seniors will be competing, so their four years at West have all come down to this.

“At state I’m going to ball so hard, and win over the hearts and souls of every last American citizen,” Robinson said.