The Bolles Speech and Debate Team competed at the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative State Tournament on April 5, held at New College of Florida in Sarasota. The Bolles team qualified 25 students for the championship, and Bolles came away with top honors in both the middle school and varsity divisions of the tournament.

Across the state of Florida, there are 405 schools and over 4,000 students that compete in speech and/or debate events. This is the third consecutive year that Bolles garnered the greatest number of individual championships as well as top honors for the team, and during that time, the Bolles Speech and Debate Team members have earned 21 individual state championships.

Of special note, in Bolles’ first year of competing in debate, the team brought home the championship in Public Forum Debate.

Individual Award Recipients include:

Rollins Powell ’29                          3^rd place Middle School Declamation
Sofia Ayaz ’30                                  5^th place Middle School Declamation

Sarah Sasseen ’31                          Semifinalist Middle School Original Oratory

Saanvi Kondu ’29                          2^nd place Middle School Informative Speaking
Saanvi Patel ’31                              Semifinalist Middle School Informative Speaking

Bianca Lebow ’31                          2^nd place Middle School Dramatic Performance
Hannah Goodman ’31                  3^rd place Middle School Dramatic Performance

Mya Nargassans ’27                      Semifinalist Varsity Dramatic Performance

Dhaani Ailawadhi ’28                   3^rd place Varsity Declamation
Jack Laufer ’27                                4^th place Varsity Declamation

Aarav Gandhi ’26                          5^th place Varsity Impromptu Speaking

Akash Gusani ’27                          2^nd place Varsity Original Oratory

David Li ’27                                     7^th place Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking

Harper Nussbaum ’29                   State Champion Middle School Impromptu Speaking

Adi Yadav ’28                                     State Champion Varsity Informative Speaking

Matthew Chanan Khan ’27           State Champions Varsity Public Forum Debate
and Sohan Patel ’27 

Cyrus Vaghefi ’26                             State Champion Varsity Dramatic Performance

Also qualifying for the State Tournament were Vincent Barragan ’28 in Declamation, Beatrice Cohen ’28 in Original Oratory, Veda Galipalli ’28 in Dramatic Performance, Matt Jakaj ’28 in Impromptu Speaking, Aksh Majithia ’30 in Declamation, Riley Powell ’29 in Dramatic Performance and Natasha Saini ’30 in Informative Speaking.

The Bolles Speech and Debate Team is coached by middle school history teacher Bob Hutchings. This is Hutchings’ 43^rd year coaching speech and debate, leading schools from Minnesota, Massachusetts and Florida to numerous state and national championships during his career.

Several Bolles Upper School Speech and Debate Team members will be preparing for Nationals, which will be held in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend in May. #BulldogProud