Eighteen students from Nease High School recently took part in the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative State Championship Tournament in Orlando.
It was an impressive outing for the group, as a dozen students reached the quarterfinals and five advanced all the way to the final rounds, and the result was several trophies and memories gained from the experience.
The event consisted of several different forms of debate that students competed in.
Nease finalists included Eva Gassert and Rachel Ball in novice congressional debate and Mina Dryden was recognized as a presiding officer for a congressional debate round.
Daniel Gassert finished runner-up in the novice extemporaneous speaking competition, while Rich Nguyen was runner-up novice impromptu speaking.
Pranav Devanand was state champion in novice Lincoln Douglas debate and made the semifinals in Lincoln Douglas debate.
However, he was not the only representation from Nease to hold their own in the Lincoln Douglas debate category, as Nihal Kondabrolu and Saicharan Ramineni each made runs to the quarterfinals.
Mayukha Das came home in sixth place in novice original oratory speaking.
Other competitors who made the trip to compete at the state tournament included Cailey Green, Kaitlyn Williams, Ian Canfield, Roshan Chak, Paxton Beidle, Shreyas Sindhaval, Manogna Chandra and Rishi Chandra.
