Niles West Debate Starts Season with 4 out of Top 10 Debaters in State

With the start of the 2013-14 speech and debate season underway, Niles West can boast four of the top ten of all students involved in speech and debate in Illinois. With this accomplishment comes membership on the National Forensic League (NFL) All-State team. As of 8/31/13, Theo Noparstak is ranked first with 1,738 points, Emma Lazar is ranked fourth with 1,330 points, Vinay Patel is ranked fifth with 1,314 points and Miranda Kang is ranked tenth with 1,113 points.

Niles West Debate Head Coach Eric Oddo stated, “I am confident this will be one of Niles West Debate’s most successful years to date.” Follow the team on Twitter @NilesWestDebate.

The NFL is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit honorary society whose mission is to promote high school and middle school speech and debate activities as a means to develop a student’s essential life skills  and values. More than 112,000 high school and middle school students, representing more than 2,800 high schools and nearly 100 middle schools, built their communication, leadership, cognitive and presentational skills as members. As members, these students may compete to attend the world’s largest academic event, the NFL national Speech & Debate Tournament, in which over $153,000 in college scholarships are awarded each summer.