Ladue Speech, Debate, Forensic Students Qualify for State, National Competition

Not all points at Ladue-Horton Watkins High School are scored by athletes, music or drama students. The students in the speech, debate and forensic’s after-school program are bringing great distinction to the school as well.

A whole host of students have advanced to state and national competition under the watchful eye of first-year teacher/coach Molly Beck.

Beck is simply amazed at the performances of her highly-motivated students.

This weekend in Columbia (April 20-21) three students will participate in speech and debate competition at the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) headquarters in Columbia. Beck will escort seniors Sarah Allen, Sarah Fee and Sayli Sant to this competition.

These three students qualified at the district tournament held in March at Parkway South High School.

Meanwhile eight Ladue students qualified for the National Forensic League (NFL) tournament in Indianapolis in June.

Making the trip to Indy are seniors Emily Bell, David Streid and Sant; juniors David Abraham, Harika Upadhyayula, Mukund Subramanian, Haohang Xu and sophomore Chloe An.

The nationals run June 10-15 at Indiana’s state capital city.

Here’s a brief profile of the top competitors in Ladue’s program this year.

Emily Bell, 18, senior. She has qualified for the national tournament all four years of high school. Bell, who has been accepted to New York University has been inspired by her two older brothers Jason at Columbia University and Zach at Yale University.

“They come and watch me speak all the time. They are my inspiration,” said Bell. Bell has made various contributions to Ladue. She is co-Editor in Chief of the Panorama, the school’s monthly newspaper. She serves as president of Amnesty International She is co-President of the Art Charity Club, a member of Ladue’s National Honor Society and enjoys dancing outside of school.

Sayli Sant, 18, senior is deciding between the University of Chicago or Duke University. She is thinking about enrolling in pre-medicine. Her specialty is the Lincoln-Douglas style debates. Her fellow debate students tackle topics like slavery, social justice and animal rights.

Sant won the National Forensic League District Student of the Year award and now advances into competition for the national award.

Sant serves as captain of the Science Olympiad team and has qualified for the Olympiad Nationals in Orlando in May.

She is involved in music with the Show Choir and Ladue’s Strolling Strings.  She is also president of Tri M Music Society which provides musical entertainment at nursing homes and elementary schools.

David Streid, 18, senior has enrolled at Columbia University in New York City. His specialty is extemporaneous speaking. “We look over the subject; we quickly memorize our speech then try and speak fluently without a lot of uh’s or er’s,” he said.

Topics of discussion range from the global economy to African health issues to drug wars in Central America.

Streid too is involved with the Science Olympiad team. He is vice president of the NHS; works on the Math Service team (provides math tutors for those who need extra help); and is also in Strolling Strings.

“I love working with these students. They are amazing,” said Beck, who teachers personal finance during the school day.

“I like this club because students get to pick what they want to do. Their success is based mostly on how much time they put into this program. Our students show a lot of brain power. So far, we’ve seen lots of success,” she said.

So much happens after the final school bell rings daily at Ladue High and its not all all in athletics, music or drama. The art of speaking well has found its niche in a very well rounded program for students at Ladue.