Hinsdale Central High School is the only school in Illinois to be recognized by the National Speech & Debate Association as one of the top 100 schools in the country for having the largest number of new degrees in the group’s Honor Society.
Members earn degrees in the Honor Society by participating in competitive speech and debate events, community service, leadership roles, volunteering, and more, according to the NSDA. Earning points and degrees in the Honor Society helps students showcase their talents, skills, and dedication to speech and debate, the Association stated.
The top 100 schools being recognized came from a total of more than 4,000.
“Speech and debate is a critical activity that underpins all educational goals,” said J. Scott Wunn, executive director of the NSDA, in a statement announcing Hinsdale Central’s achievement.
The National Speech & Debate Association bills itself as the authority on public speaking and debate in the United States. The association builds the infrastructure for speech and debate competitions around the world by providing topics, educational resources and training for students and coaches. For 100 years, the NSDA has built a platform for youth voices that culminates in the National Tournament, the largest academic competition in the world.
Paul Woods, Hinsdale Central’s speech coach, explained that the speech and debate teams are separate and go to different competitions during most of the year. Both teams hold tryouts in September, and the competitive season takes place mostly in the winter, as the teams go to local competitions on weekends from November through January, Woods said.
He said speech is an Illinois High School Association activity and has its state series during the first three weekends in February. Debate has a separate state competition in March.
“Both teams had a fantastic 2024-25 season and qualified students to the National Speech and Debate Association’s National Tournament in June,” Woods said.
Hinsdale Central’s speech team competed in 14 different individual events.
“Some of these events have a performance/acting focus, and some have a public address/public speaking focus,” Woods said.
The individual events were Dramatic Duet Acting, Dramatic Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Humorous Duet Acting, Humorous Interpretation, Impromptu Speaking, Informative Speaking, Oratorical Declamation, Oratory, Original Comedy, Poetry Reading, Prose Reading, Special Occasion Speaking, and Radio Speaking.
“There is a 15th event that is added for the IHSA series, called Performance in the Round, that is basically a 15-minute play performed in the round,” Woods said.
On the debate side, coached by Jen Hafner, the team competed in two events, Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Public Forum Debate.
Some highlights of the 2024-25 season for Hinsdale Central were:
Speech:
• Team – IHSA – 3rd place in state, IHSA Sectional Champions
• State champion – Original Comedy – Gemma Flaming
• State champion – Poetry Reading – Meiyan Zhu
• State -3rd Place – Humorous Duet Acting – Gemma Flaming & Michael McGowan
• State – 4th Place – Dramatic Duet Acting – Michael McGowan & Makenna Melia
• State – 6th Place – Radio Speaking – Maeve Rogers
• State – 3rd Place – Performance in the Round – Mia Angeletti, Tony Annoreno, John Gallagher, Sonia Gupta, Rebecca Lian, Meg McMillan, Sofia Nucifora, Olivia Tobolski, Joyce Wang, Kate Weil, Annika Zilliox
Debate:
• State Semi-finalist, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Akash Saini
Hinsdale Central coaches Woods, Janelle Hoeksema and Sasha Boheme all were recognized with Diamond Awards, which are given by the NDSA to recognize coaches for long-term excellence and achievement. Coaches earn these awards by accumulating points through student success and service, and by meeting longevity requirements, like a minimum of five years of coaching.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
