Shady Side Academy juniors and Speech and Debate Team members Jennifer Jaffe and Antoni Yotov competed as part of Team USA at the 30th World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship (WIDPSC), held in Sydney, Australia, at the Ravenswood School for Girls from April 7-12, 2017.

The tournament featured 98 student competitors from 10 countries. Each student competes (in English) in four events in the preliminary rounds: Impromptu Speaking, Parliamentary Debating, Interpretive Reading, and either After-Dinner Speaking or Persuasive Speaking. A panel of judges scores their performances, and the top 8-12 students in each event advance to the finals. The top 2-4 highest-scoring students in the finals advance to the grand finals, and then a winner in each event is chosen. Students also earn an overall place in the tournament based on their performance across all events.

Yotov placed 10th in After-Dinner Speaking and advanced to the finals in Parliamentary Debate to earn a 46th place overall individual finish. Jaffe placed 27th in Impromptu Speaking and finished 58th overall.

Accompanying the students to the week-long competition were Speech and Debate Team coach Mary Krauland and English teacher Linda McDonald. Shady Side Academy hosted the 2016 WIDPSC in Pittsburgh last spring, and Yotov competed.

After they returned to SSA, Jaffe shared her Persuasive Speech and Yotov shared his After-Dinner Speech at all-school assembly. Watch videos of their speeches below: