Apple Valley, Eastview Students Win 2 of 6 National Speech Tournament Titles

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Editor's note: The following information is from a press release from District 196.

An student and student each took top honors at National Forensic League Speech and Debate Tournament, placing first in two of the six main speech events.

Apple Valley's Nader Helmy was a repeat champion in original oratory this year, while Eastview's Ashesh Rambachan took first in international extemporaneous speaking—the third member of his family to do so—at the tournament, held June 10-15 in Indianapolis.

Eastview also received a School of Excellence Award in speech, as did Eagan High School, two of 13 schools nationally to be awarded. The School of Excellence awards are based on the number of elimination rounds of competition completed by a school’s students during the course of the national tournament.

Helmy's win makes him only the third competitor in the history of the tournament (since 1931) to win back-to-back national titles in original oratory. Three of the five other students who advanced to the final round of competition in original oratory this year were from District 196: Patricia Alexis Reeves of Apple Valley finished third, followed by Michael Ross of Eastview in fourth and Thomas Dyke of Eagan in sixth.

Rambachan was national runner-up in international extemporaneous speaking last year, as a sophomore. He is the third member of his family to win a national championship in international extemporaneous speaking while attending Eastview; his brother, Akshar won the title in 2008 and sister, Ishanaa in 2004.

Helmy and Rambachan both bested more than 200 competitors in each of their events. This year’s national tournament featured more than 3,000 students from nearly 1,000 high schools across the United States.

District 196 has had at least one national speech champion in each of the past several years, and had four of the six national title winners in 2005.

Three other District 196 students advanced to the final round of competition in one of the six main events: Jacob Guzior of Eagan was national runner-up in humorous interpretation; Karina Devine of Eastview was third in dramatic interpretation, and Justin Wirsbinski of Eagan was fifth in dramatic interpretation. David Newhall and Madeline Sachs of Eagan just missed making the final round in duo interpretation, finishing in seventh place.

In storytelling, one of the consolation events at the national tournament, Eastview’s Kiki Laing took first place and Alexander Leehan of Eastview finished fifth.

Thirty-eight District 196 students qualified for nationals at regional qualifying events held last winter and spring. Others who competed at nationals are Svati Pazhyanur, Adithya Balaji, Tony Bigelow, Sergey Ivanchuck and Anant Naik of Eastview; Luke Stuttgen, John Granlund, Rand Silvers, Szumei Leow, David Quinn and Miriam Kelberg of Apple Valley; Ryan Kirkley, Matthew Stefanko and Wesley Just of ; and Maggie Parra, David Wickard, Sophia Callahan, Maxwell Minsker, Kunal Patel, Adam Markon, Emerald Egwim, Reid Emmons, David Stevens, Connor Swanson, Adam Stromme and William Thomas of Eagan.