{"id":297861,"date":"2019-04-19T06:06:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T20:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=297861"},"modified":"2019-04-19T06:06:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T20:06:33","slug":"5-gca-students-join-team-cnmi-for-nsda-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/5-gca-students-join-team-cnmi-for-nsda-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"5 GCA students join Team CNMI for NSDA competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Grace Christian Academy\u2019s National Speech and Debate Association regional competition winners pose for a souvenir photo after the announcing of winners at Marianas High School. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grace Christian Academy students won top awards at the weeklong National Speech and Debate Association regional competition, with most of them included the CNMI team that will compete at the national level in Texas. <\/p>\n

The five GCA students\u2014Jonathan Woong So Lee, Joshua Pajarillaga, Lanz Jabez Victoria, James Keaton, and Sumin Melody Woo\u2014would be part of a team of 15 students from the CNMI who will compete in Dallas on June 16-21.<\/p>\n

Lee, a 10th grader, has a lot of \u201cfirsts\u201d in joining NSDA this school year. This is going to be Lee\u2019s first time to compete at the nationals. In fact, this was Lee\u2019s first time to compete in the NSDA.<\/p>\n

The other four GCA students who will be joining Lee at the nationals have been part of CNMI teams in previous school years and have already experienced competing in the United States.<\/p>\n

At the recent regional competition, Lee won first place in Dramatic Interpretation and first place in Original Oratory, which he will represent at the nationals. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful for all the support and help I received from my fellow peers, competitors, and coaches. I am so excited to compete in the [United] States [mainland]. I am so thankful for this opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pajarillaga, a 10th grader at GCA, won first place in International Extemporaneous Speech and will represent Team CNMI in the same event at the nationals. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am super excited to compete at the national level once again. This year’s [regional] competition was especially tough but\u2026this will be another opportunity to improve and learn more [and] a chance to show off how far our islands have come in speech and debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Victoria, who is in 11th grade at GCA, won first place in Commentary and will represent the CNMI in the same event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never expected to be able to win first place, considering all the good performers in my categories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

James Alexander Keaton, who is in 9th grade, won 5th place in Impromptu Speech, which will be his main event at the nationals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely happy. \u2026This is my second time competing [at] the national level. My first experience was when I was in 7th grade. I will do my best to represent the CNMI team at the national level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Woo has been a veteran competitor at the national level, representing the CNMI in different competitions such as speech and thespian. Being a senior, this is her last year to compete in high school-level competitions. This year, she won first place in Prose Reading and will represent the CNMI in this category.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been participating in speech and debate since elementary, and being a part of the nationals team again is the best way to end my NSDA participation this senior year. I am avid to start practice for Dallas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

GCA principal Beth Ann Nunez said: \u201cWe are very proud of our five GCA students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NSDA encourages public and private high school students to participate in and become proficient in reading, public speaking, debate, and interpretations. <\/p>\n

National Speech & Debate Association
\n(9TH-12TH Grade)<\/p>\n

Dramatic Interpretation
\nJonathan Woong Soo Lee, 1st Place
\nSumin Melody Woo, 2nd Place<\/p>\n

Original Oratory
\nJonathan Woong Soo Lee, 1st Place<\/p>\n

Commentary
\nLanz Jabez Victoria, 1st Place
\nArvin Dayao, 3rd Place
\nJames Alexander Keaton, 5th Place <\/p>\n

International Extemporaneous Speech
\nElijah Joshua Pajarillaga, 1st Place
\nLanz Jabez Victoria, 2nd Place <\/p>\n

United States Extemporaneous Speech
\nJames Alexander Keaton, 4th Place
\nArvin Dayao, 5th Place <\/p>\n

Impromptu Speech
\nElijah Joshua Pajarillaga, 2nd Place
\nJames Alexander Keaton, 5th Place <\/p>\n

Prose Reading Masters A
\nSumin Melody Woo, 1st Place<\/p>\n

Poetry Reading Masters A
\nJonathan Woong Soo Lee, 3rd Place
\nSumin Melody Woo, 4th Place<\/p>\n

NSDA coach\/coordinator: Grace Duran
\nCompetition registrar: Esther Manzano
\nJudges: Marilyn Aldan, Sandy Howard, Elizabeth Ellis (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace Christian Academy students won top awards at the weeklong National Speech and Debate Association…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":297862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3312],"class_list":["post-297861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-nsda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}