Brief History of the Cary Academy Speech & Debate Program
The Cary Academy Speech and Debate team was founded during the 1998-1999 school year. In the twenty-five years since its inception, the team has grown to become the largest speech and debate program in the state of North Carolina. During that time the team has won a state championship (2004), multiple district championships (2003,2004, 2016, 2017), mutliple league championships (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. 2023) and qualified students to attend the National Speech and Debate Tournament for 23 consecutive years running. (The longest active streak of any school in our district.) In that time Cary Academy has qualified in all of the fourteen events offered at the national tournament. Cary Academy students have earned awards for advancing to the elimination rounds of the National Tournament in 20 of the last 21 years, including ten years reaching the main stage placing in the top 14 in the nation in their events. Cary Academy students have also won individual championships at the national/regional level competitions hosted by Wake Forest University, the University of Florida, Columbia University, Princeton University, St. Jospeh's University, Northwestern University, Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Kentucky, and George Mason University. In 2007 , 2013 and 2018 the Cary Academy chapter of the National Speech & Debate Association received the Leading Chapter Award for the Tarheel East District, and in 2023 Cary Academy's NSDA Chapter was the 29th largest in the entire nation, including both public and private schools. For more information about Cary Academy's past national qualifiers and award winners, as well as the team's all-time leading point earners and state champions, consult the links in the menu bar under the History heading.