The South Dakota Class "A" State Speech and Debate Tournament will be held March 4-5 at Harrisburg High School.  Beresford will be represented by six students with preliminary rounds on Friday and finals to be held on Saturday.

Competing in Public Forum Debate from Beresford will be Laney Andrews, Haley Huot, Max Josko, and Jameson Quimet.  All are currently ninth grade students. The Public Forum topic is Resolved: On balance, Turkey’s membership is beneficial to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Each two-person team will debate either affirmative or negative after a flip of a coin to determine sides.

Lincoln Douglas Debate is an individual debate contest modeled after the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.  Students prepare on both sides of the topic Resolved: The Appropriation of Space by Private Entities is Unjust. Competing in this event will be seventh grader Emma Andrews.

In addition to debate, Individual speech contests will be held in Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking.  Competing in Oratory will be Allie Westra and Emma Andrews, each presenting an original persuasive speech 8-10 minutes in length.  Informative Speaking is also an 8–10-minute original speech where the speaker incorporates visual aids to provide information on a topic. Laney Andrews and Max Josko will represent Beresford in this category.

Extemporaneous speaking is a 5-7 minute speech about current events, either on international or domestic issues.  The student draws three topics, selects one, and has 30 minutes to prepare the speech. Domestic Extemp competitors are Max Josko and Jameson Quimet and those in International Extemp are Haley Huot and Laney Andrews.

The team's coach, Ann Tornberg stated, "While we are a young team, we have been working hard to get ready for the State Tournament which is the conclusion of the Speech and Debate Season in South Dakota. Next, on March 7, we will start the Middle School Oral Interp Season for 6-8 grade students, with tournaments at the end of March and into early April. "

Beresford Students will compete in the State Speech and Debate Tournament on March 4-5 to be held at Harrisburg High School. Pictured above are the six students competing. Back row l to r: Max Josko, Jameson Quimet, Emma Andrews, and Haley Huot.  Front row, l to r = Laney Andrews and Allie Westra.