Article written by Ann Tornberg.
This year’s High School NSDA Tournament brought together 7,494 entries in 23 different events from all 50 states. Beresford High School sisters Emma and Laney Andrews competed in the Oral Interp category of Storytelling and the Speech category of Expository Speaking, an original speech written to inform the audience on any topic. Emma Andrews, having completed 9th grade, was in her first year of high school eligibility for the National Contest. Of the 456 students who entered the Expository, Emma advanced from the preliminary rounds into the first Elimination Round. Junior Laney Andrews also advanced in Expository Speaking to the top 28 speakers out of the 456 who entered the category.
Beresford Middle School had 14 students compete at the NSDA Middle School National Tournament Held June 19-21, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Middle School Nationals brought together 169 middle schools nationwide, with 777 individual competitors and 1,058 entries. There were 18 different speech and debate events for the middle school competition.
Beresford had four 5th-grade students, including Anna Andrews in Humorous Interp and quarterfinalist in Storytelling; Noah Peterson in Humorous Interp and Storytelling; Skylar Thomas in Humorous Interp; and Stella Vandre in Prose and Storytelling.
Three 6th graders qualified. They included the Duet Acting partners Emma Martinsen and Julia Kinney. Both girls were also involved in Storytelling. Sixth grader Josh Merriman was in Humorous Interp and Program Oral Interp.
There were three students from the 7th grade. Abby Cahoon and Sophia Penn were entered in Duet Acting and Dramatic Interp. Raiden Hanner was entered into three total events: Humorous Interp, Poetry, and Informative Speaking.
In their last year of Middle School, the 8th-grade competitors included Rya Merrigan and Caroline Olsen in Duet Acting. Rya was also in Dramatic Interp, and Caroline was in Storytelling. Max Kinney competed in Extemporaneous Speaking and Program Oral Interp. Juliet Josko advanced from the preliminary rounds to quarterfinals in both Storytelling and Poetry. She then advanced in Poetry to the semifinals, taking 11th out of 73 students who competed in that division.
All three of the Andrews sisters broke into elimination rounds at the NSDA National Tournament. Left to right: Emma Andrews, Anna Andrews, Coach Ann Tornberg, and Laney Andrews.
Eighth-grader Juliet Josko broke into quarterfinal rounds of Storytelling and Poetry and then advanced to the semifinals in Poetry.
Front row left to right: Raiden Hanner, Julia Kinney, Emma Martinsen, Josh Merriman, Sophia Penn, Stella Vandre, Noah Peterson, Skylar Thomas, and Anna Andrews.
Back row: Kelly Josko, Ann Tornberg, Sherry Vandre, Max Kinney, Max Josko, Emma Andrews, Caroline Olsen, Juliet Josko, Rya Merrigan, Abby Cahoon, Laney Andrews, and Conrad Josko.