Senior Kathleen Nguyen won first place in Informative Speaking and fifth place in Program Oral Interpretation at the National Speech and Debate Association Nebraska South qualifying tournament. Senior Sophie Wyvill also qualified for Nationals in International Extemp.

Nguyen was also chosen as Nebraska South district Student of the Year for the NSDA.

Her informative speech was about vertical farming and her oral interpretation was about breaking down racial stereotypes.

Speech coach Nolan DeWispelare recommended Nguyen choose vertical farming as a topic.

“At Nationals in Dallas two years ago, I judged an informative speech in semifinals about farming, and one of the points was about vertical farming,” DeWispelare explained. “I thought it was something that in our agricultural area it would be something people would want to learn about.”

For her oral interpretation, Nguyen was inspired to talk about racial stereotypes with everything that has transpired over the past few months.

Going into the speech tournament, Nguyen wanted to perform her best.

“I have been first alternate for Nationals for two years in a row, and I really wanted to qualify my senior year,” Nguyen said.

After qualifying for Nationals, Nguyen will focus on perfecting her speech and preparing for the district and state speech tournaments.