TFA State

Post date: May 15, 2014 3:01:16 PM

Students from the Hawk Speech & Debate team travelled to Cy Creek High School in Houston on March 5-8 to compete in the Texas Forensic Association State Tournament, the largest speech & debate state meet in the country.  Over 2,000 students from 219 high schools, both public and private, competed.  To qualify, students must earn at least 12 qualifying points in an event throughout the TFA competitive season.  Hendrickson achieved the following successes:

In Domestic Extemp, 109 students participated in the meet and Junior Jordan Rojas placed 6th. 

In Prose Interpretation, 186 students participated and Junior Candace Kosted placed 5th. 

In Duet Acting, 84 teams (168 students) participated and Senior Courtney West and Sophomore Harmon Gamble reached Semifinals, placing them in the Top 18.

In Duo Interpretation, 73 teams (146 students) participated and Seniors Brenda Ortegon and Taylor Cope reached Semifinals, placing them in the Top 18.  

In Public Forum Debate, 146 teams (292 students) participated and Juniors Zach Falkenbury and Jordan Rojas reached Double Octafinals, placing them in the Top 32.

In Policy Debate, 116 teams (232 students) participated and Seniors Anshu Gupta and Travis Tiffany reached Octafinals, placing them in the Top 16.  Both gentlemen also received speaker awards – Travis was 6th place speaker and Anshu was 8thplace speaker of the 232 students competing.  This is a first for Hendrickson!

Also in Policy Debate, the team of Sophomores Nico Williams and Christina Bui narrowly missed breaking to Double Octafinals,ranking 34th.  This is a great achievement for Sophomores!

Hendrickson also had the 11th highest number of qualifications and placed 13th of the 219 schools competing – including private school powerhouses such as The Greenhill School, The Kinkaid School, Strake Jesuit and St. Mary’s Hall and public schools such as Plano Senior, Grapevine, Churchill and Dallas Creekview.  HHS was the highest ranking Austin area school in overall sweeps. 

If you know any of these students, please congratulate them on their success.  This was a great TFA season for the Hawks and we are excited about the UIL Season which has already begun!  The team is coached by Samin Agha, Mike Fisher and Kirsten Nash.