The Bolles Speech and Debate Team captured the top school award for the third consecutive year as a member of the St. Augustine Forensic League at a competition in Gainesville, Florida, the weekend of February 22-23.

In addition to earning the League championship, Bolles set a record for qualifying eight team members for the NCFL Grand National Tournament, which will be held over Memorial Day weekend in Chicago.

Representing Bolles and the St. Augustine district are Sohan Patel ’27 and Matthew Chanan-Khan ’27 in Public Forum Debate, Sawyer Powell ’28 and Hudson Powell ’28 in Duo Interpretation of Literature, Dhaani Ailawadhi ’28 in Oratorical Declamation, Cyrus Vaghefi ’26 in Dramatic Performance of Literature, Akash Gusani ’27 in Original Oratory and Aarav Gandhi ’26 in Original Oratory.

“This is an impressive achievement for the team, doubling the number of students who qualified for last year’s tournament,” said Bolles Speech and Debate Team director and middle school history and speech communications teacher Bob Hutchings. “It should be a fun time in Chicago for this group of students.”

The following weekend, Hutchings took six varsity Bolles Speech and Debate Team members to compete in the Florida Forensic League (FLL) state tournament at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he was named Speech & Debate Coach of the Year for Region 7.

Team members Unsh Majithia ’25, Elizabeth McClure ’25, Chanan-Khan, Gandhi, Patel and Vaghefi faced off in their respective events in an extremely competitive environment at the state tournament. Majithia was a semi-finalist in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, and Gandhi was a quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speaking.

Congratulations to the entire Bolles Speech and Debate Team! #BulldogProud