3 BGHS Students Qualify for National Speech Tournaments

BGHS/Gatton senior Alex Minter will compete in Congress at the National Speech and Debate Association Tournament in Phoenix. AZ.Photo byMichael Minter

3 Bowling Green High School students have qualified for National Speech and Debate Tournaments being held this summer: Ariti Gani, Joshua Martin, and Alex Minter.  This is the 8th year in a row BGHS has had students qualify for national tournaments.

Gani and Martin, both juniors, will compete at the National Catholic Forensics League tournament Memorial Day weekend in Louisville. 

BGHS/Gatton Academy junior Ariti Gani will compete at the National Catholic Forensic Grand National Tournament in Louisville, KY.Photo byJanet Martin

Gani, who is also a Gatton Academy student and the daughter of Royhan and Nahid Gani, will compete in Original Oratory with a speech she has written and memorized. This is her 2nd year qualifying for this national tournament.  In 2021 she qualified in Congressional Debate.

BGHS junior Joshua Martin will compete in the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Speech Tournament in Louisville, KY.Photo byJanet Martin

For the 3rd year in a row, Martin will compete at the NCFL tournament in Oral Interpretation of Literature,  a collection of published poetry in 1 round and another round of prose.  Martin ranks 5th in the state in Prose.  He is the son of Keith and Janet Martin.

At NCFL, thousands of students from across the nation will each compete in 1 of 10 speech and debate events.  The National Catholic Forensic League is open to all secondary school students to encourage and to assist in the development of articulate leaders through whose skills truth may be widely spread and become an influence in the life of the nation.

Minter, the top-ranked Congressional Debater in the state, is a BGHS/Gatton Academy senior and the son of Michael and Patti Minter. He will make his 3rd appearance in Congressional Debate at the National Speech and Debate Association’s National tournament.  This is Minter’s 5th time qualifying for a national tournament. Congressional debaters assume the roles of federal legislators, write bills, make speeches, and vote for legislation they want to be passed by the federal government.

The National Speech & Debate Tournament taking place in Phoenix, AZ in June, marks the capstone of speech and debate activities for more than 140,000 NSDA members across the country.  Starting in 1931, the NSDA national tournament is now the largest academic competition in the world. 6,000 competitors from 2,000 schools are expected to compete to be crowned national champions in front of a live audience of thousands and tens of thousands more online.