Mexico High School Speech and Debate team members Grant Norfleet and Riley Given have until the end of the month to submit their duo acting piece to the National Speech and Debate Association …
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Mexico High School senior Riley Given continues to break school records. He is the first student on the school’s speech team to qualify for the National Speech and Debate Association competition all four years of his high school career.
He also is the third student in the northeast district to qualify for the national competition over four years.
He will submit a duo acting piece with Grant Norfleet for the National Speech and Debate competition. This is Norfleet’s second year qualifying for the competition, a personal record. Kylie Yeast, who graduated in 2019, also qualified at the national level twice. Norfleet is a junior this year, so he has an opportunity to make the hat trick next year.
Qualifying for the national tournament was a little different this year, speech team coach and Given’s mom, Sara Given said. Instead of competing at a district or sectional competition, the national organization looked at a competitor’s record. This had to be done due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic precautions.
Given qualified for the national competition this year in both humorous acting and duo acting. He can only compete in one category, so he and Norfleet will submit their duo piece, Sara Given said.
“They had to do good all year long to get to go to nationals,” she said.
National competition submissions will be evaluated in June. Students will have to film their performance through the association’s recording site, rather than prerecorded videos.
“It’s not like some school with a huge film production [department] has a huge advantage,” Sara Given said. “It is all just right on the [NSDA] website.”
Given and Norfleet have until the end of the month to record their entry. Selected judges will watch submissions in June. Ranks are submitted to a computer system, which tallies scores.
The organization already implemented an online scoring system last year, so that will make it easier this year for judging, Sara Given said.
nav-oc Naviga Writer 2020-05-18T19:59:57Z false yes NEWS momex-052020-news-riley-given
