Woodinville High School Briefs

Speech and Debate

The high school Speech and Debate season officially ended the weekend of March 18 with the State Debate Tournament. The prior weekend was State for Speech Events.

For speech, WHS student Arman Abdhollmohammadi came in ninth place overall, and Mariam Kazmi came in 11th place overall in Impromptu Speaking. For Lincoln Douglas debate, Wesley Gerrish finished in the middle of the pack, but was the ninth best overall speaker. He had the highest speaker points out everyone in prelim rounds, which means he beat four people who broke to finals rounds.

For Speech and Debate, there are roughly 30-32 students who qualify for each event, and they are the best kids in their areas around the state. Our area (district 2) is the most competitive in the state, and only six Impromptu Speakers and eight debaters make it to this tournament. Regardless of where our students finished, making it to state at all is a big deal, especially when we are competing against programs that are larger and more established.

WHS has attended the State Speech tournament online for the last few years, but this was the first run at State for Debate. Wesley did an incredible job representing WHS in this tournament.

Please congratulate Arman, Mariam, and Wesley and thank you to Aneet Bains for her leadership.

WHS Theatre wins superior award

On March 17-18, the WHS Theatre Company traveled to the State Thespian Festival at Western Washington University in Bellingham to participate in some very exciting and educational workshops, learn new skills and perform a cutting from their fall play, The Laramie Project. Senior Mya Hariri also performed a monologue she presented at the Regional Thespies in December in front of a packed house.

The WHS Theatre performance of The Laramie Project received a Superior Award, the highest honor from the judges, and Mya won first place for her solo monologue. Congrats to all of the performers.