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Westglades Middle School Wins 25 Awards at Congressional Debate at Fort Lauderdale Tournament 6

Westglades Middle School and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who participated. {courtesy}

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Westglades Middle School Speech & Debate Teams competed at the 28th Wakefield Flying L Invitational at Fort Lauderdale High School, where Westglades earned 25 awards.

Brooke Pappas, Westglades Speech and Debate coach, tells Parkland Talk that despite being the only middle school in attendance at the September 27 debate, Westglades’ 34-member team went head-to-head against more than 550 high school competitors from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties.

By the end of five rounds, the young debaters had brought home 25 medals and trophies across multiple categories.

Westglades’ achievements included standout performances in Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Informative Speaking, Congressional Debate, and more.

Ellen Salame claimed first place in both Middle School Dramatic Performance and Impromptu Speaking, while Logan Hoffman captured first place in Informative Speaking: Novice.

The Congressional Debate team swept the top three overall placements, led by Sahithya Muddurajaveera in first place.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School team also had an impressive showing, including a first-place finish in World Schools Debate by Leo Dinh, Dhruv Mutha, Praneeth Tallapaneni, Colin Crippen, and Blake Balkcom, and a first-place win in Impromptu Speaking by Ayaan Raiwany.

Brooke Papas, Westglades Speech and Debate coach, praised the team’s resilience and commitment.

“We are especially grateful for our ongoing partnership with the MSD Speech & Debate Team. Their high school competitors and coaches consistently give up their time to help mentor and prepare our middle school students,” Papas said.

Below is a comprehensive breakdown of every student who received an award.

Westglades Middle School

Varsity Awards

3rd place Dramatic Interpretation: Angelique Kramer
6th place DUO Interpretation: Kairos Gonzales & Lucas Yang
4th place DUO Interpretation: Ayla Harper & Liv Sundquist
6th place Varsity Informative: Logan Hoffman

Middle School Dramatic Performance

6th: Emily Duchin
5th: Melanie Keil
4th: Paisley Mena
3rd: Angela Abad Gietl
2nd: Camryn Walker
1st: Ellen Salame

Extemporaneous Speaking: Novice

5th: Riley Owen

Impromptu Speaking: Novice

4th: Liam Salame
2nd: Ellen Salame

Informative Speaking: Novice

6th: Rebecca Budraj
4th: Iman Ashraf
1st: Logan Hoffman

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Novice

3rd: Aanshi Shah

Congressional Debate – Novice

1st Speaker: Bianca Thakur
1st Speaker: Ira Kumar
1st Speaker: Sahithya Muddurajaveera

Overall Novice Congress Results

3rd Overall: Bianca Thakur
2nd Overall: Ira Kumar
1st Overall: Sahithya Muddurajaveera

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Results

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

6th: Sai Hasini Sandoss Kumar
3rd: Krish Shah

World Schools Debate

1st: Leo Dinh, Dhruv Mutha, Praneeth Tallapaneni, Colin Crippen, and Blake Balkcom

Impromptu Speaking

4th: Nandini Nagaraj
1st: Ayaan Raiwany

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Ryan Yousefi

Ryan Yousefi has lived in Coral Springs for over 30 years. He has worked as a writer for multiples outlets over the years, including the Miami New Times where he has covered sports and culture since 2013. He holds a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Business Healthcare Management from Western Governors University.