ACS Students Shine in English-Language Speech and Debate Tournament in Pazardzhik
Students representing all 5 grades at the American College of Sofia did themselves and their school proud at the BEST Foundation (Bulgarian English Speech Tournament) competition in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria on March 7-8, 2015. Not even an unrelenting blizzard, which pounded the Pazardzhik region throughout the entire weekend, could stop ACS students from excelling in their chosen events.
Over 300 students from 27 high schools throughout Bulgaria took part in this high-level competition, the largest in the history of the BEST organization. ACS sent 28 students to the competition. This past weekend ACS was represented in 3 of the 5 available events, all conducted in English: academic debate, original oratory (writing and reciting original speeches), and prose (dramatic reading of published work). Students from grades 8-9 participated in the novice division, grades 10-12 in the varsity division. All students who performed at the competition received a certificate of participation.
Yordan Georgiev (Class of 2019) gave a rendition of his self-written speech "Does technology separate people?" Ana-Maria Markovska (Class of '19) reached the semi-final round of the novice prose contest, dramatically performing the story "Spilt Milk" by D.K. Cassidy. Boyana Atanasova (Class of '19) delivered a powerful, moving address on the ups and downs of forgiveness, based on her own writing entitled "Forgiveness: finding the strength to exit this challenging maze."
Boyana earned 1st place, in a field of 35 competitors, in the novice original oratory competition for her admirable work.
ACS continued its stellar performance in BEST debate competitions. Debate topics for the Pazardzhik tournament included genetically modified foods, social equality, and media censorship. Matching its achievement from the Lovech tournament earlier this year, both teams in the varsity debate final represented ACS. These are the only two times in BEST tournament history that the varsity debate final featured 2 teams from the same school. Additionally, ACS claimed 3rd place in varsity debate, making ACS the only school in Bulgaria to earn 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place (out of 24 teams) in a BEST debate competition.
Completing the school's outstanding achievement in debate, teams from ACS finished in 1st and 4th place (out of 15 teams) in the novice debate contest.
Overall, 6 of the 9 debate teams ACS sent to this tournament reached the quarterfinal round or above, a truly remarkable feat. Here are the students who participated in the debate event, along with their placement if took part in the semifinals or finals.
Novice division debate (15 teams entered)
Ana-Maria Markovska, Hale-Seda Radoykova, Nikola Dumanov- Class of '19
Nona Kadieva, Ivo Nakov, Kalina Matova- Class of '18
Maylin Lazarova, Maria Nikolaeva, Ivanina Dimitrova- Class of '18
4th place: Ioana Valova, Manuela Uzunova, Mia Kounova- Class of '18
1st place: Boyana Atanasova, Gabriela Ivanova, Kristiya Navushtanova- Class of '19
Varsity division debate (24 teams entered)
Mazen Meziad, Alex Ivchev, Gabriel Petrov- Class of '17
3rd place: Stoyan Trenchev, Kamen Velichkov, Simeon Mihaylov- Class of '16
2nd place: Joanna Dimitrova (Class of '17), Momchil Milanov (Class of '18), Nikola Michaylov (Class of '18)
1st place: Adelina Ivanova (Class of '15), Evgeni Marchev (Class of '17), Zdravko Varbanov (Class of '16)
The ACS speech and debate team is coached by teachers Adam Saligman, Michael Deegan, and Scott Bleiweis. All of the coaches would like to congratulate all of the students who participated in Pazardzhik on their enthusiasm, commitment to excellence, and courage in successfully taking on these challenging, pressure-packed academic events. The entire ACS community should be extremely proud of their impressive accomplishments.
Scott Bleiweis, ACS Debate Club Coach
In the top photo, left to right: Evgeni Marchev, Adelina Ivanova, and Zdravko Varbanov (photo by Adam Saligman)
Left to right: Boyana Atanasova, Kristiya Navushtanova, and Gabriela Ivanova (photo provided by BEST foundation)
ACS debaters with their coaches (photo by Adam Saligman)