National Debaters

Six members of the Spring Woods High School Debate Team have qualified for an upcoming national tournament where the group’s Top 10 Texas standing will get a workout from other trained speakers.

To represent Houston, the six students competed in eight preliminary rounds at the recent Space City National Forensic League to win and then advance. The national tournament will be held in Birmingham, Ala., in early June.

National debate qualifiers at Spring Woods High are:

• Christian Rice, 11th grade, was named Space City Champion and will compete in Congressional Debate in the House of Representatives.
• Max Rombado, 12th grade, will compete in House Congressional Debate.
• Waaris Mohammad, 12th grade, was named Space City Champion and he will compete in Senate Congressional Debate.
• Brianna Bonilla, 12th grade, was Space City Champion for two years and will compete in the Original Oratory division at Nationals.
• Lizeth Urdiales, 12th grade, will compete in House Congressional Debate.
• Avery Reinhart, 11th grade, will compete in Original Oratory. Spring Woods High’s award-winning debate team is coached by Vicky Beard.

In February, debaters Christian Rice and Waaris Mohammad made it to finals in the tough Harvard Speech/Debate Tournament, one of the large student competitions held each year.

Christian and Waaris advanced at the Harvard meet to the Top 30 out of about 450 students, which gives them standing on the national debate and speech circuit.

This year, more than 3,000 students competed in all events at Harvard; about 450 took part in Congressional Debate like the Spring Woods students.

“Students who advance and win at Harvard usually do well or win at the National Speech-Debate Tournament of the National Forensic League in Birmingham,” Ms. Beard told the high school newspaper recently. Spring Woods High Debate is making a name for itself – in the region, state and nationally, she added.

The Texas Forensic Association rates Spring Woods High School as No. 8 in the state. “Eight years ago, no one even knew Spring Woods High locally!” she proclaims. And look at them now!