The Speech and Debate team won its third consecutive 5A State Championship title at the University of Tulsa on April 13.

Senior Sully McCollum, who won sixth in Dramatic Interpretation, fifth in Original Oratory, and state runner-up in Domestic Extemporaneous speaking, credited the team’s success to Coach, Brett Young.

“I’d say a great deal of our success this year came from Mr. Young,” McCollum said. “He helped build this program a few years ago, and because of that, we all got to develop our skills and perfect them, which allowed us to have the success that we have had.”

Senior Fina Chongwa, who is the state champion of Lincoln Douglas debate, as well as state runner-up in Dramatic Duet with senior Kayleona Hill was pleased that the team was able to stay in a hotel together for the weekend long competition.

“I think the entirety of the stay was super fun; going out to eat, playing games, playing corn hole before going to bed, and going to compete the next day,” Chongwa said.

Coach Brett Young said he was proud of the team’s hard-work.

“This team is so dedicated to wanting to maintain that state championship that they just practiced and worked so hard,” Young said. “They put in time during class but also after school, and I just think they had extreme commitment to wanting to do a good job and get that championship.”

The team also won third in the Academic Achievement Award.