Senior Angelina Rosa and freshman Sophia Leung qualified for the NY State Championship in Forensic Speech. Angelina will represent the school in the category of Congressional Debate and Sophia will compete in the category of Declamation at the state competition held at Hofstra University in April.

In Congressional Debate, students prepare legislation and argue over whether bills should be passed in two minute critical and analytical speeches. The best speakers move on to supersession. Angelina placed 11th in her first competition and 7th in her second. Angelina qualified for states last year, but was unable to go due to illness.

“I have so much love and passion for Congressional Debate and I’m really excited to be able to compete at states and hopefully at nationals in the coming year,” Angelina said.

Declamation is a junior varsity category in which students perform speeches, like TED talks and eulogies previously given by others in another forum. Sophia’s speech, “Embrace the Near Win” was originally given as a TED talk by Sarah Lewis.

Leung said, “I was really excited to find out that I’m going to be able to go to states, especially as a freshman. This was an unexpected surprise — one that I am very proud of.”