NSDA Nationals

The Cary Academy Speech and Debate team was represented by 12 students at the National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament held in Birmingham, Alabama the week of June 18th-23rd. Competing against students from all across the nation multiple CA competitors earned recognition for their strong performances. Both Jack Stafford and RJ Jain broke out of their preliminary chamber of Student Congress with Jack placing first in Senate 8, and RJ fourth in House 1. Jack advanced to the final round of Senate after placing fifth in his semifinal chamber where he went on to finish 5th overall out of 196 entires. The Public Forum team of Arm Kassam and Matthew Schaeffer advanced to the elimination rounds of Public Forum Debate where they reached round 9 before being eliminated placing them in the top 66 out of 273 entries. Eesha Sachdeva reached the octafinals of Original Oratory placing her in the top 60 out of 257 entries. Evan Erhardt was a quaterfinalist in the supplemental event of Poetry reading placing him in the top 20 of 390 entries. Due to its strong performance Cary Academy was named a School of Excellence for Debate, an honor given to the top 20 performing schools in the debate categories at the National Tournament who do not receive one of the ten Schools of Outstanding Distinction Awards given to schools who earn points in both Speech and Debate categories.