By Lisa Morales - Archbishop Curley Notre Dame HS
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO Debate Team Members are: Taylor Altidor, Milienne Bonenfant, Stanley Celestin, Calvin Hercule, Sydney Herring, Jamal Mapp, Florianne Renaud, Eric Silva, Ena Urbina, Sohan Desai, and Kevin Pullido. Non-participating squad members are: Samantha Khalil (ranked 9th in the state) Antenise Desamour, Vladimir Saint-Amand, Christina Blanchard, Jeffery Jeanty, Desiree Cruz, Marlena Bruno, and Gregory Francillon, Jennifer Louissant.
MIAMI � Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School�s Speech and Debate team opened their competition season strongly. Taylor Altidor, a junior, placed third in Oral Competition out of 50 contestants at the Flying L Invitational held at Fort Lauderdale High School Oct. 2.
Taylor is ranked eighth in the state as of last year�s state tournament in Oral Interpretation and will move to the Dramatic Interpretation category this year.
Curley Notre Dame students Florianne Renaud and Jamal Mapp scored in the Novice Congress category 4.5 out of 6 in the bill they argued.
With 39 schools participating from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, as well as two schools from Orlando, team advisor David Monaco said he recognizes the amount of work required to compete and achieve results.
�The level of thought and intellectual ability changes and dramatically soars when students debate with their peers,� said Monaco. �All the team did Curley proud!�
The Flying L Competition is one of the many events offered to high schools associated with the Florida Forensic League. Students are provided with opportunities to develop their communication, argumentation, and leadership skills through their participation in curricular and co-curricular educational and competitive events.
Archbishop Curley Notre Dame�s Speech and Debate program was started in 1998 by Christian Brother Anthony K. Cavet. Since then the school has celebrated many achievements including a state championship in Original Oratory and Humorous Interpretation, and a national championship in Humorous Interpretation.
