Burlington’s Speech and Debate team third at State

by Stephanie Tolman
The speech and debate season ended at the state competition in Cheyenne this past weekend.
“I could not be more proud of how my team performed,” said Coach Shelby Moore. “Burlington hasn’t attended a State Speech and Debate Tournament in 21 years and we managed to come home with a third place plaque in the 1A/2A Sweepstakes. Not only that, but every school that has beaten us all season has been 2A.”
“Beyond our team placing, I was thrilled that our students brought home five individual all-state titles. This is incredible no matter what, but especially impressive considering that every single person on my team is considered a novice. Most of their competition has been competing for three to four years in their events. The natural talent and hard work of our students made them a formidable team, even in our inaugural year.”
Burlington’s individual placers were: Aubbri Wagner, second place in Poetry; Jessica Mendez, third in Oratory; Dusti Schatz, second in Informative and in the Lincoln Douglas Debate and Kitzen Schatz, third in the Lincoln Douglas Debate.
“I would like to make particular mention of our lone senior, Dusti Schatz. In her only year on our team, she brought home two all-state recognitions and made an especially impressive showing in the Lincoln Douglas Debate. Debate has a major learning curve and to place in it her first year is almost unheard of. She is currently being scouted by multiple college teams and I can’t wait to keep up with her future successes.
“None of this would have been possible without the mentorship of Wendy Kuper and my dedicated assistant coach Ani Baird and the bus drivers that safely got us to and from every competition. I had an incredible team around me every step of the way and that really showed in our success at the state competition.”