The Red Dawn Debaters hosted the October 2019 PBCFL, where roughly 400 students and 150 adult judges from Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties competed and critiqued a dozen speech and debate events. Wellington had great success in both the running of, and performance at, the second PBCFL of the 2019-20 school year.
In Congressional Debate, Liam MacMahon took home first-place honors, while Maddie Kaplan took third place. Taking fourth place were McKenna Wickers and Alexander Valdes, and Chelsea Gutierrez placed sixth. In addition, Gutierrez, Wickers, and Shaida Meier earned gavels as their respective chambers’ top presiding officers.
In Public Forum Debate, the team of Megan Gonzales and Rylee Bleakley went 3-1 and placed sixth overall out of 42 teams in the pool.
Wellington had some oh-so-close finishes as well. Jaiden Blinston was seventh in Dramatic Performance, the team of Blinston and Matthew McGann were seventh in Duo Interpretation, Isabella Tombari was seventh in Oral Interpretation, and extempers Nicholas Raney and Jordyn Bergman were fifth and sixth, respectively, in their event.
Wellington earned five new National Speech and Debate Association degrees. Gutierrez earned her Degree of Excellence, Kayla Cho earned her Degree of Honor, and three students – LeAhyari Garcia, Gonzalo Pardo, and Valdes – each earned the Degree of Merit and their NSDA certificates.
Coach Gaba thanks the amazing Wellington Speech and Debate parents, varsity students, and alumni parents and students, who volunteered and donated their talents to make the day an amazing educational opportunity for the students who graced our campus.