By STEPHANIE THOMPSON
People Editor
It’s official. The Green River High School Speech and Debate Team in now ranked among the top 1 percent of schools nationwide.
Last week, head coach Carina Stulken received a letter from J. Scott Wunn of the National Speech and Debate Association National Forensic League, informing them of their new ranking.
“I am proud to inform you that your speech and debate program at GRHS earned significant recognition by the National Speech and Debate Association,” Wunn’s letter states.
“As you know, students earn points and degrees in our honor society based on competitive and service-related activities, ranging from the Degree of Merit with 25 or more points to the Degree of Premier Distinction with 1,500 or more points.”
Students in the National Speech and Debate Association earn individual points in their events and those points are added up to decide which team wins, much like swimming or track, Stulken explained.
Students also earn points for every round they compete in all of these numbers are logged into the national site for record-keeping purposes. The national association then awards students with various degrees.
Wunn’s letter states the team achieved more than 300 degrees, which has lead to its being ranked among the top 1 percent of schools nationwide and earned membership in the association’s prestigious Society de 300.
“This milestone is remarkable because it demonstrates outstanding commitment to teaching students essential life skills -- including communication, research, listening, writing and organization,” Wunn stated.
Of course, the team was thrilled with the news. Stulken said they are ranking 33 out of 7,745 schools.
They are ranked No. 1 out of 49 schools in the state; and No. 1 out of 20 in the district.
Two of the team members who did great at nationals are now ranked in the top 100 in the country. JD Richardson is ranked 72, while Alexander Marchal is 98. Both of these students are All Americans and have the achieved premier distinction.
GRHS graduate Fred Whitman was also named an All American. Only the top 25 national point leaders out of a field of more than 130,000 student members earn the coveted title.
“To have a student place among the very best students in the association is a tribute to your outstanding coaching and dedicated leadership,” Wunn stated. “It also indicates strong support for speech education from your school. Both of these elements are indispensable in helping talented young people reach their full potential.”
“We have several students on our team that have earned premier distinction, however, that really takes a four-year commitment to the team with a lot of success during those four years,” Stulken said. “So the National Speech and Debate Association has rankings for how many degrees a team earns in a season starting with 200 then 300 and so on. To break into the 300 category is nearly impossible to do unless you have a large and successful team. We have made it into that category for the last several years, which is how the ranking is established.”
Stulken cannot take credit for this accomplishment.
“We have three very dedicated coaches who love what we do and a group of kids that are supportive of each other and that really are self driven,” she said. “The other coaches and myself are very proud of our team. Our students strive for excellence and their hard work and dedication have ranked us in the top teams in the nation.”
She said the team has slowly climbed up the ranks on the national level, but it has been more difficult to do since the team is from a state with a smaller urban population. Stulken said this makes the standings even more meaningful to the team.
The team started practice last week and are already setting new goals for the team and individual goals as well.
“We are always striving for excellence. After the placings of JD Richardson and Alexander Marchal in final rounds at nationals this season we would love to surpass that achievement with an even higher placing,” she said.
“We would also, of course, like to defend our state title that we have held for the past five consecutive years.”
With the rankings, comes even more pressure. Stulken said the kids always put the most pressure on themselves to do their best for the team.
“Last year, I told them it would be a record breaking year, but I think this year has the possibility to be an even stronger season for us,” Stulken said.
“We have had more than 100 kids initially show up to be a part of our team and there is a great talented pool in this group of students. There is no replacement for hard work and that is how we will achieve all of the goals we set.”
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