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Mount Carmel School earns nat’l charter membership
Mount Carmel School’s NSDA adviser Filmah Buenaflor, center, with the school’s NSDA competitors: Cathryn Jane Javier, left, and Thomas Lee A. Manglona II, right, at the recently concluded CNMI NSDA Regional Championship. Javier took first place in Extemporaneous Commentary Speaking and first place in Impromptu, as well as fifh place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Manglona took first place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate and first place in US Extemporaneous Speaking as well as second place in Impromptu. Manglona and Javier will represent the CNMI in the upcoming 2015 NSDA National Competition held in Dallas, Texas, this summer. (Contributed Photo)
This past week, Mount Carmel School learned that it had been granted charter membership in the National Speech & Debate Association, which used to be known as the National Forensic League. Charter membership reflects sustained commitment to speech and debate education over several years. As a result, it is the highest level a program may achieve within the high school honor society.
“Achieving this honor is not easy,” said J. Scott Wunn, executive director for the association. “Charter status places this program among the best in the nation.”
School president Galvin Deleon Guerrero was very pleased with the news. “This is no small achievement, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our NSDA adviser Filmah Buenaflor for committing so much of her time, energy, and personal resources to our NSDA competitors. We also owe much appreciation to all our talented NSDA competitors over the years who have earned distinction both at the local level and national level.”
In 2011, AlumKnight John Edward Elenzano earned the CNMI its first championship trophy for storytelling at the annual NSDA (then NFL) national competition. A year before that, 2010 AlumKnight Ryan Ortizo won the prestigious Show Me Excellence Award at the 2010 NFL national competition. (MCS)
