Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Worland High School speech and debate coach Rick Dorn honors his seniors during their end-of-year barbecue that was delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The seniors are (l-r): Dash Lloyd, Zoe Fernandez, Nick Bower, Dorn, Cody Butterfield, Raychel Duffy, Kassy Ward and Madeline Martinson.
WORLAND – The Worland High School speech and debate team and the drama team held an end-of-year celebration on Thursday, June 18, at Sanders Park to celebrate the drama team's three-peat as well as give out individual awards for speech and debate.
The celebration was delayed the past couple of months due to gathering restrictions put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19. Due to restrictions being loosened, speech and debate coach Rick Dorn, who is also the drama teacher, decided to hold a barbecue for his two teams in the park.
The highlight of the night was six students earning Academic All-American Awards from the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA). The students earning the honor were Nick Bower, Kim Sumida, Cody Butterfield, Madeline Martinson, Zoe Fernandez and Jade Hefenieder. All Americans are students who earned more than 750 points through the NSDA based on competition results, and maintained at least a 3.7 grade point average.
According to Dorn, less than 1% of students in the nation earn the honor of an Academic All-American for speech and debate.
Students that participated in the state competition via Zoom received their medals from the event, and were shown the third place award they took home as a team.
In team awards, Fernandez was awarded as the highest points earner and Martinson earned the outstanding newcomer award. Interpretation awards were given to Raeth Tolman and Hefenieder, while debate awards were given to Michael Neufer and Sumida.
The drama team celebrated their third state title in a row, and the seniors were recognized for their hard work in helping continue the excellent program that has hopes of winning a fourth title in a row this upcoming year.
Andrew Nelson was awarded the outstanding performer award; Butterfield was given the most enthusiastic award, while Tolman was given the award for leading points. Tech awards were given to Fernandez, Carter Brown, Aspen Greek and Julie Seidel.
