Speech and Debate Team is on the Rise

The Speech and Debate Team at Arizona College Prep is quickly rising a to become one of the most accomplished teams in our school’s short history.  While most new teams go through a growing period before they are competitive, ACP’s Speech and Debate has flipped this script on its head, as it keeps putting up strong tournament after strong tournament.  Despite their relative inexperience, this excellent group of talented students has truly defied all the odds.  With their strong performance last weekend at the state tournament, the Knights have solidified themselves as a force in the Speech and Debate world.

Coming into state, not many people had high expectations for the speech and debate team – second year teams competing in their first state tournament usually aren’t expected to perform very well.  Yet again, the Knights proved everyone dead wrong, putting up one of the strongest state performances in school history. Led by strong performances by most of the team members, the Knights charged their way to a fifth place overall finish.  In the individual portion of the tournament, Natasha Zimmerman (10) and Miranda Vega (11) won first in duet acting, while Sharmila Nimbkar (10) finished third in informative speaking.  When asked about how it felt to make it to the state tournament, Sharmila said it was “really cool because [they] are just a second year team, and have progressed very fast”.  On the topic of expectations for the team going forward, she stated “I expect that once we grow and expand and get more experience, we can compete with some of the big names”.  If this tournament is any indicator, the Knights will be prove themselves to be a fierce opponent in the near future.