Bishop McGuinness earns speech school of excellence award

Seven Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School students competed at the 93rd annual National Speech & Debate Tournament June 11-16 in Phoenix, Arizona, where Bishop McGuinness was honored with the prestigious Speech School of Excellence Award, securing a spot among the top 20 schools in the nation.

Price Collier, a 2023 graduate, was a national final round champion, finishing third overall in humorous interpretation. A three-time national qualifier, this was Collier’s first time to advance to the final round of competition. He had to compete and advance through 12 rounds of
competition to qualify for the last round of six finalists.

Asher Thorson, a junior at Bishop McGuinness, placed 21 in humorous interpretation. Other competitors included Delaney Anderson, Daniel Soto, Kayleona Hill, Brock Gowens and Fina Chongwa.

The Bishop McGuinness Speech and Debate Team was also the 5A State Champions in 2022 and 2023. 

At the National Tournament, students debated tough topics covering trade agreements with Taiwan, civil liberties and environmental issues. Other championship performances ranged from interpretation of literature to public address to events where students have a limited amount of time to prepare a speech on a current event they’ve been assigned.

This year’s tournament was the largest in National Speech & Debate Association history with more than 6,700 students participating. Students competed throughout the year at one of 111 district tournaments to qualify for nationals. Schools are allowed a certain number of entries to the district tournament. Districts are allocated a number of qualifiers based on the size of the district and their growth.