Nine Stuyvesant students qualified for the National Forensics League (NFL) speech tournament which will be held in Kansas City, Missouri on the week of June 13. The students qualified at the NFL District Qualifier tournament held on Saturday, February 27, at Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York.

Six Stuyvesant team members qualified for the speech competitions and two qualified for debate. The qualifying team members are seniors Valeriya Tsitron, Anna Gordan, Sandesh Kataria and Claire Littlefield, as well as juniors Omika Jikaria, Rebecca Temkin, Jin Rim and Jaimie Meyers. In addition, a debate alternate—junior Lea Beltramino—qualified, and will compete should a spot open up at the competition.

The speech and debate team as a whole also won the Sweepstakes Award for both top overall performance in the tournament and the team’s excellence throughout the year.

Qualifying team members are hopeful about their chances on the national stage. “We’re looking forward to it but we don’t know what to expect since it’s our [mine and Valeriya Tsitron’s] first time at nationals,” Jikaria said.

On Saturday, March 6, the team participated in a qualifier tournament for the Catholic Forensic League (CFL). Students who placed in the top six positions advanced to the national CFL tournament, which will be held in Omaha, Nebraska over Memorial Day weekend.

Twenty-three team members qualified. The qualifying team members for debate are: sophomores Jong Lee, Sam Saskin, Liam Downs-Tepper; juniors Lalita Maraj and Daniel Frankel, as well as seniors Gordon, Kataria, and Sahil Goswami. The qualifying team members for speech are sophomores Suprita Datta, Kristina Mani; juniors Jikaria, Kouzmanoff, Temkin, Rim, Meyers, Simon Ayzman and Edwin Yung, as well as seniors Littlefield, Tsitron, Singha Hon, Chelsea Grant, Joseph Puma and Kashyap Rajagopal.

The team also won the Sweepstakes Award for the tournament. “It’s been a pretty remarkable year,” Littlefield said.