Stang competes at national speech, debate tournament

            Delivering a graduation speech in May for his Great Bend High School class of 2009 peers was just a warm up for Valedictorian John Stang. The real show was at the NFL National Speech and Debate Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, the third week of June.
            Stang made it to the semi-finals at the tournament, but not without a lot of preparation. He likened his training to the effort an athlete exerts prior to a big tournament, only instead of his body, he was exercising his brain.
            Barbara Watson, GBHS speech and debate coach, noted that Stang competed in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking in which students prepare a five- to seven-minute speech over a current event. A new question is drawn every round and they have only 30 minutes to prepare the speech without using any notes. They are required to quote five to 14 magazine and educational journals filed throughout the year to support their answers.
Although he did not know the precise questions he would be asked, sample topics were posted on the internet. During the competition, he answered questions dealing with the Canadian economy, global warming and Russia joining the World Trade Organization.
“I put in as much training time as an athlete, just in a different way,” Stang said, explaining that for the month prior to nationals, he spent the morning conducting research by reading newspapers, magazines, internet news sites and academic journals. He also wrote and practiced 30-40 speeches in preparation for the week-long tournament.
Watson said Stang competed in six preliminary rounds at nationals. All of the students’ scores were added together to determine the top 60 students who competed in the first set of elimination rounds called octo-finals. Starting with 240 contestants, Stang advanced to the 10th elimination round that put him in the top 30 in the event. He earned a plaque at the tournament for the accomplishment.
Stang also earned a plaque for finishing in the top 18 of the Impromtu speaking consolation event. He competed against 519 students.
“Overall, it went really well,” Stang said. “The competition was really good.”
Stang will be a freshman at Roanoke University in Salem, Va., this fall where he will double major in international relations and poly psychology with a minor in philosophy. He has earned an internship to conduct academic research on Nigeria and oil development.
Every year there are more than 1 million National Forensics League members and only 4,000 members qualify to compete from their District NFL Tournaments from all 50 states from across the nation in one of the 10 speech and debate events held at the tournament.