MHS wins Congress district title
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Maryville High School students pose after the Show-Me District NSDA Student Congress Qualifier tournament, held at William Jewell College April 4. Maryville was recently recognized as the District Sweepstakes Champion in Congress as a school.
Maryville High School’s speech accolades keep piling up.
During the Missouri State High School Athletics Association state tournament awards ceremony, Maryville was recognized as the Show-Me District NSDA Student Congress Qualifier team sweepstakes champion.
The award means that, as a team, Maryville accumulated the most points from their competitors during the Student Congress district tournament. The team sweepstakes awards were not given during the April 4 tournament because the contest was held on a Tuesday afternoon and evening and schools elected to leave after the national qualifiers were crowned instead of waiting to tabulate team sweepstakes.
Maryville’s performance was an impressive one; out of six students competing in the tournament, five advanced to the final round. Two students, senior Hannah Townsend and junior Makaylah Jones, qualified to the NSDA National Tournament in June, while a third, senior Emily Gascoigne, was named first alternate in her chamber.
At the district tournament, students are split into the Senate and the House. Both chambers argue the same bills, but they are separated as far as how many students can be entered (as the real-life Congress is).
As such, Maryville entered two in the Senate, while the other four were inserted into a bustling House competition.
In very similar fashion, national qualifiers are dependent on entries as well. Every district may send two students in the Senate, but only one per preliminary House chamber.
The Show-Me District, which pits Maryville against schools from St. Joseph and most of Kansas City, had four chambers of the House in preliminary rounds. As such, four people from the Super Session final round qualified to the national tournament, meaning six total spots at Nationals were up for grabs.
In the Senate, Maryville sent Gascoigne and junior Chad Sullivan. Both qualified for the Super Session in the Senate, with Gascoigne placing third and Sullivan placing seventh.
This was Sullivan’s first go-around at the national qualifier and the end of his rookie year in speech and debate. He said the result was a confidence boost for next season.
“It felt good to break into the final round,” Sullivan, who competed in Congress throughout the season, said. “It ends my season on a high note.
“Winning the district championship as a team gives us all a good morale boost. It tells us that, no matter where we placed, we all ended up contributing points to the overall effort.”
Gascoigne added that the championship proved Maryville, though a smaller school, was a force to be reckoned with.
In the House, Maryville sent Jones and Townsend, as well as senior Logan Nelson and junior Delanie Vinzant. Nelson joined Townsend and Jones in the Super Session, placing ninth overall.
“I’m very proud of where I ended up placing,” Nelson said. “I wasn’t able to speak much, but when I spoke, I spoke well, which was evident in where I ended up placing.
“Winning the district sweepstakes award reminds us that we are a team and reinforces the team mindset. Though we do a lot of individual events and competition, we still operate as a team, and when we all win as a team, it feels really good.”
To qualify to the national tournament, Townsend took third while Jones took second.
When all was said and done, everyone had contributed a lot of points toward the sweepstakes award. Gascoigne had 40 total points, Jones had 38, Sullivan had 31, Nelson had 28, and Townsend had 27.