🎉👏CLAPS! 👏🎉

Congratulations to the Edina team!

Last Chance NSDA Qualifer:  April 26-27, 2024

Congratulations to Hannah Hein who qualified for NSDA in Congress (House)

Big shout-outs to Raja (IX), Chloe (IX), Medina (IX), Valerie (USX), and Rishika (INF) who advanced to semifinals, and Angela (HSE) who advanced to finals at the largest LCQ tournament to date!

Tournament of Champions:  April 20-22, 2024

7 Edina students attended the TOC.  All deserve recognition because of the qualification requirements for participation.

Devarsh Borah &  Angela Langsweirdt: Congress qualifiers

Pranika Kumar: Congress semi-finalist

Abir Rawal & Jay Shapiro: Public Forum Gold qualifiers, advanced to double-octofinals

Sadie Slobin and Claire Watz: Public Forum Silver qualifiers, advanced to double-octofinals 

Section 6AA State Qualifiers:  March 14, 2024

Mina B: 6th place finalist, Extemporaneous Speaking

Valerie S: 5th place finalist, Extemporaneous Speaking

NDSA District Speech Tournament:  March 8-9, 2024

Congratulations to the Edina NSDA Qualfiers:

Mina B, International Extemporaneous Speaking

Devarsh B, International Extemporaneous Speaking

Keerthik M, United States Extemporaneous Speaking

Eagan Speech Tournament: March 9, 2024 

Chloe M: 3rd place Varsity International Extemp Speaking

Sylvia O: 3rd place Varsity Merit, US Extemp Speaking

Rishika A: 5th place Varsity Merit, Original Oratory

Lakeville Speech Tournament: March 2, 2024 

The Edina team finished 6th overall in sweepstakes. 

Devarsh Borah finished second in international extemporaneous speaking;

Pranika Kumar finished fourth in US extemporaneous speaking, and sixth in impromptu speaking;

Valerie Schmitt finished fifth in US extemporaneous speaking;

Raja Chinnakotla finished second in the next in final in international extemporaneous speaking;

Angela Langsweirdt finished third in the next in final in extemporaneous reading;

Rishika Anasuri finished third in the next in final in impromptu speaking

Alvi Barua finished fourth in the next in final in extemporaneous reading

Keerthik Muruganandam finished fourth in the next in final in international extemporaneous speaking

Eastview Speech Touranment: February 24, 2024

Rishika Anasuri was first place in Open Impromptu Speaking, first place in Open Oratory, and first place in Open Informative Speaking

Pranika Kumar was first place in Championship US Extemporaneous Speaking 

Mina Bhargava was second place in Championship International Extemporaneous Speaking 

Raja Chinnakotla was fifth place in Championship International Extemporaneous Speaking

Valerie Schmitt was fifth place in next in finals in Championship US Extemporaneous Speaking

Devarsh Borah was sixth place in next in finals in Championship International Extemporaneous Speaking 

Sylvia Oglesbay was first place in Open US Extemporaneous Speaking 

Chloe Meredith was fourth place in Open International Extemporaneous Speaking 

Madina Elmi was fourth place in Open Impromptu Speaking and first place in next in finals in Open International Extemporaneous Speaking

Chloe Smith and Chloe Meredith were first place in next in finals in Open Duo Interpretation 

Hannah Hein was fourth place in next in finals in Open US Extemporaneous Speaking

The Edina Team was 9th overall in Sweepstakes, which was our best performance to date.  Great job!

Harvard Debate Tournament: February 16-19, 2024

Devarsh Borah, competitor, Harvard Round Robin

Devarsh Borah, quarterfinalist, varsity Congressional Debate, Harvard

Angela Langsweirdt, quarterfinalist, varsity Congressional Debate, Harvard

Julia Benson, quad octofinalist in Varsity LD, Harvard

Asher Kaufman, double octofinalist in JV LD, Harvard

Bloomington Speech Tournament:  February 17, 2024

Edina HS, Small School Sweepstakes, First Place

Mina Bhargava, 4th place, International Extemporaneous Speaking

Rishika Anasuri, 4th place, Impromptu Speaking

Raja Chinnakotla, 6th place, International Extemporaneous Speaking

Rishika Anasuri, 2nd place, Informative Speaking Next In Final

Madina Elmi, 2nd place, International Extemporaneous Speaking Next In Final

Sylvia Oglesbay, 3rd place, US Extemporaneous Speaking Next In Final

Daniel Frohling, 4th place, US Extemporaneous Speaking Next In Final

Abdallah Elmi, 5th place, Novice US Extemporaneous Speaking

Divya Thamman, 6th place, Novice US Extemporaneous Speaking

Kiran Thamman, 7th place, Novice US Extemporaneous Speaking

Paartha Kumar, 7th place, Novice International Extemporaneous Speaking

East Ridge Speech Tournament:  February 10th, 2024

Mina Bhargava, 1st place, varsity international extemporaneous speaking

Sylvia Oglesbay, 1st place, novice US extemporaneous speaking

Apple Valley Speech Tournament (Minneapple):  February 3rd, 2024

Mina Bhargava, 2nd place, varsity international extemporaneous speaking

Divya Thamman, 6th place, novice extemporaneous speaking

Rosemount Speech Tournament:  January 27th, 2024

Pranika Kumar, 4th place, varsity extemporaneous speaking

Mina Bhargava, 5th place, varsity extemporaneous speaking

Valerie Schmitt, 2nd place next in final, varsity extemporaneous speaking

Keerthik Muruganandam, 4th place next in final, varsity extemporaneous speaking

Devarsh Borah, 6th place next in final, varsity extemporaneous speaking

Sylvia Oglesbay, 4th place, novice extemporaneous speaking

Abdallah Elmi, 6th place, novice extemporaneous speaking

Divya Thamman, 1st place next in final, novice extemporaneous speaking

Paartha Kumar, 5th place next in final, novice extemporaneous speaking

Chanhassen Speech Tournament:  January 20th, 2024

Mina Bhargava, 1st place, varsity international extemp speaking

Devarsh Borah, 2nd place, varsity international extemporaneous speaking

Raja Chinnakotla, 6th place, varsity international extemporaneous speaking

Sylvia Oglesbay, finalist, novice US extemporaneous speaking

Divya Thamman, finalist, novice US extemporaneous speaking

Paartha Kumar, finalist, novice international extemporaneous speaking

Varin Sinha, finalist, novice international extemporaneous speaking

Kiran Thamman, finalist, novice US extemporaneous speaking

Claire Daman, finalist, novice original oratory

2024 State Debate Tournament: (January 12-13th)

Edina competed in all four formats – Congressional Debate, Lincoln Douglas, Policy and Public Forum – and was the only school in the state to win awards in all four formats.

In Congressional Debate, Devarsh Borah won the state championship.  Pranika Kumar was the state runner up.  Devarsh is a junior, and Pranika is a sophomore.

In Lincoln Douglas Debate, Aditi Jha was the state runner up.  Valerie Schmitt was a state semifinalist.  Aditi is a 9th grader, and Valerie is a sophomore.

In Policy Debate, Jo Adam and Kaushik Chava were state semifinalists.  Jo and Kaushik are juniors.

In Public Forum Debate, Claire Watz and Sadie Slobin were state quarterfinalists.  Claire and Sadie are juniors.

2024 Sectional State Qualifying Tournament, (January 5-6, 2024)

Edina competed at the 2024 Sectional State Qualifying Tournament in LD, Policy and Public Forum Debate at Eagan H.S.  Edina was the only school at the tournament to qualify five entries for the 2024 State Debate Tournament.

Lincoln Douglas Debate:

• Valerie Schmitt was the Section Six AA Runner Up (and second overall competitor in the state in LD) and qualified for the State Tournament

• Aditi Jha qualified for the State Tournament

Policy Debate:

• Jo Adam and Kaushik Chava were the Section Six AA Runner Up (and third overall team in the state in Policy) and qualified for the State Tournament

• Ash Kansara and Elli Shipp qualified for the State Tournament

Public Forum Debate

• Sadie Slobin and Madina Elmi qualified for the State Tournament

These teams join Edina’s Congressional Debate qualifiers, Devarsh Borah and Pranika Kumar, who previous qualified for the tournament. Edina is the only school to qualify seven entries for the 2024 State Debate Tournament.

Blake:  (December 16-17, 2023)

Congress:

• Devarsh Borah, 8th

• Angela Langsweridt, semifinals

• Hannah Hein, semifinals

LD:

• Aditi Jha, double octofinals

PF:

• Claire Watz & Sadie Slobin, Octofinals & TOC bid

Dowling:  (December 8-10, 2023)

Congressional Debate:

• Pranika Kumar was second

• Angela Langsweirdt was fourth

Policy Debate:

• Jo Adam and Kaushik Chava were octofinalists

Section Tournament in Congress:  (December 1-2, 2023) 

Edina qualified two students for the state tournament in Congress. Devarsh Borah was the section runner up in Congress, and Pranika Kumar also qualified for the state tournament. Note that each school is allowed to enter two students in the state qualifying tournament, so Edina qualified the maximum number of students possible for the state tournament.

MDTA Novice and JV State Championship Tournament:  (December 1-2, 2023)

• Sweepstakes:  Edina won the overall sweepstakes award as the top novice and JV debate team in Minnesota. This is the fourth year in a row Edina has won this award.

• JV Congress: Rishika Anasuri won the JV State Championship. Anwar Abdihashi was also a finalist.

• Novice Congress: Larissa Yang, Kingsley Diong, Kate Hu, Aqbaal Mohamed and Valerie Langsweirdt all qualified for the quarterfinals.

• JV LD: Valerie Schmitt was the JV State Runner-Up. Sanvi Budideti qualified for the semifinals. Noah Reardon qualified for the quarterfinals. Asher Kaufmann and Priyansh Gandhi qualified for the octofinals. Beatrix Montabon was sixth speaker, Asher Kaufman was seventh speaker, and Noah Reardon was eighth speaker.

• Novice LD: Sylvia Oglesbay was the Novice State Champion. Graham Kesterson was the Novice State Runner-Up. Ethan Hogervorst qualified for the semifinals. Divya Thamman and Jack Holly qualified for the quarterfinals. Sylvia Oglesbay was also top speaker, Ethan Hogervorst was eighth speaker and Divya Thamman was tenth speaker.

• JV Policy: Alvi Buzar Barua and Lynn-Clara Tun qualified for the quarterfinals. Alvi Buzar Barua was also ninth speaker.

• Novice Policy: Matthew Weiby and Meredith Aune qualified for the quarterfinals. Matthew Weiby was also top speaker. Meredith Aune was fourth speaker.

• Novice PF: Max Daggett and Jackson Gassuolo qualified for the quarterfinals. Quinn Tessmer-Tuck and Austen Hoye and Eli Chen and Noah Menning qualified for the double octofinals. And Cambrie French and Nasteha Abdiaziz qualified for the triple octofinals.