MHS speech and debate hosts 10 schools

Austyn Deiter, Quenton Kinderknecht, and Sam Ferris were hosts to annual speech and debate tournament.

Maryville High School Speech and Debate students hosted over 250 students at their annual Speech and Debate Tournament on October 28 – 29.

Schools competing included Lafayette, North Kansas City, Oak Park, Park Hill, Park Hill South, Platte County, Savannah, Smithville, St. Joseph Central and Staley.

On Friday, students competed in debate events, while on Saturday, they competed in individual events and Congress.

“We want to thank all the people who took time to judge for us, and we want to thank Professor Brian Swafford and his college students for assisting us with tabulation and judging,” noted Sam Ferris, MHS’s speech and debate coach.

Sweepstakes winners included: Park Hill, first place, Park Hill South, second place, and St. Joseph Central, third place. This year, the tournament also gave out the Kinman Power Sweeps Award. Named after a previous coach at MHS, Trudy Kinman, the award honored schools that did not have huge entries, but still won awards. This year there was a tie with both Savannah and Smithville winning the award.

The Maryville Pride Lions provided the trophies, and the Maryville Optimist Club provided funding for the hospitality room. Other businesses helping with hospitality included Pizza Ranch, Hy-Vee and KFC.

Kinman pointed out, “When the school eliminated the debate and forensics program from the curriculum, I was afraid the program would die. However, Sam Ferris stepped up and coached the program as an after-school extra-curricular activity. With only two students, Quenton Kinderknecht and Austyn Deiter, they pulled off an excellent tournament. Some schools spent the night in Maryville, others got to meet Mr. Swafford and learn about NWMSU, and still others were impressed by the MHS and the Lee and Nina Schneider Performing Arts Center. Another interesting fact is that two former MHS speech and debate students now coach. Hannah Townsend is at Park Hill South, and Shane Sandau is at Oak Park.”