Five students at Salem Hills High, coached by Douglas Welton, earned the Academic All-American Award. They are Thomas Scharf, Jared Sly, Annaliese Eddington, Sydney Ward, and Josh Abbott. Only two percent of NSDA member students receive the Academic All American award. This coveted award recognizes academic rigor, competitive speech and debate success, and personal excellence.
From more than 141,000 student members of the National Speech & Debate Associate, fewer than 1 percent of students earn the Academic All-American Award every year. This tremendous accomplishment places our students among the top 1 percent of all student members across the country.
This distinguished award recognizes students who have completed at least five semesters of high school; earned a degree of Superior Distinction in our Honor Society (a total of 750 or more merit points); achieved rigorous criteria for GPA and/or test score requirements; and demonstrated outstanding character and leadership.
The National Speech & Debate Association is proud to award one chapter from each competition district with this year’s Leading Chapter Awards. Only approximately 3 percent of schools are recognized as Leading Chapter Award winners.
“This award, which is based on participation, represents a tremendous dedication to speech and debate education,” said Executive Director J. Scott Wunn. “Our Leading Chapter schools understand the importance of speech and debate, and the life changing benefits of the activity. We are proud to recognize these hard-working schools with this coveted honor.”
Each year the top chapter in accumulated members and degrees, not more than one per district, receives the Leading Chapter Award; then its accumulated total returns to zero and it begins a new record. Each school must wait at least five years before being eligible for the award again.
Leading Chapter schools are recognized based on student participation throughout the school year. Schools earning the Leading Chapter Award must have previously achieved Charter School Status in the National Speech & Debate Association. These speech and debate programs serve as an inspiration for new speech and debate teams around the United States.
“Speech and debate advances communication skills, develops interpersonal skills, improves reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking, and prepares students for college, careers, and beyond,” said Wunn. “Nowhere is this more evident than our Leading Chapter schools.”
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