2021 NSDA National Qualifier – Vancouver District

vda student debate tournament

National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) holds its annual Nationals tournament in June. It is the most prestigious and challenging speech and debate tournament of the year. To qualify, all participants must pass district qualifiers first.

On April 23rd, nine of the best Vancouver high school debate teams came together to compete for the only two seats to the Nationals. All of them are the best of the best in Vancouver.

We are proud to announce that VDA’s 4 teams defeated all other competitors and took the only two places available to the 2021 National Speech and Debate Tournament!

VDA debate student Andrew Liu holding Stanford Trophie

Andrew Liu

vda-student-william-wang-debate

William Wang

vda student joseph mai holding Stanford trophy

Joseph Mai

vda student rina song holding Stanford debate trophy

Rina Song

Our students William Wang, Andrew Liu, Joseph Mai, and Rina Song will represent Vancouver to the Nationals in June! 

student photo

Jennifer Zhang

Special congratulations also goes to Jennifer Zhang, who finished as the Champion of the Original Oratory division. She will also represent Vancouver to participate in the Nationals’ speech competition. 

As Jennifer shared: “I constatly get to learn new topics and immerse myself in the issues of today which I would never do without debate.”

VDA Honor

OpenChampion Andrew Li & William Wang
OpenFinalist Joseph Mai & Rina Song
OpenSemifinalist Johnson Wu & Andrew Zhang
OpenSemifinalist Sunnie Li & Grace Hu

Personal Honor