ACS Wins Team and Individual Honors at National Speech and Debate Competition

By Scott Bleiweis

Members of the ACS English language speech and debate club earned great success at the final competition of the school year organized by the BEST Foundation. This national-level tournament took place in Sofia from April 22-24, and featured over 400 student participants from 27 schools throughout Bulgaria. Students competed in 5 English language events: World Schools format debate; original oratory; duo interpretation; prose; and poetry.

The talented performers from ACS won the team award in the medium division, earning the most points for schools with 9-26 participants. ACS students reached the final round in 4 out of 5 events, and were recognized for their achievements in an awards ceremony attended by Vice Minister of Education and Science Diyan Stamatov.

Ana-Maria Markovska, ACS 9th grader, won first prize in the novice prose event (for students in 8th and 9th grades). Ana-Maria also received the first place award in this event at the previous tournament in Pernik in March. Ninth grader Kristiya Navushtanova was also a finalist, finishing in 4th place.

Three ACS 9th graders finished as finalists in the novice oratory contest, with Boyana Atanasova finishing second, Alexandra Zidarova in third, and Yordan Georgiev in sixth. Boyana and Kristiya received fourth place in novice duo.

ACS continued its exceptional success in the debate competition. With students from grades 8-12 competing together, the 9th grade team of Boyana, Kristiya and Gabriela Ivanova won first place. In addition, 10-graders Rada Pavlova, Mila Marcheva and Iva Valcheva reached the semifinal round and finished in fourth place.

This concludes another successful year for the speech and debate club as they look forward to even greater accomplishments in the next school year.