Notre Dame 8th grader competes in national debate tourney

Only middle-schooler from Michigan in annual event held this year in Florida.

Katherine Schmidt will be a freshman at Notre Dame when school reopens in late August.

Katherine Schmidt, who graduated from Notre Dame Marist Academy in May and will be a 9th grader at Notre Dame Prep in the fall, competed in the 2018 National Speech & Debate Tournament, which this year was held last week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She was the only middle-school student from Michigan entered into the week-long event, billed as the largest academic competition in the world.

“This is the capstone event in the speech and debate community for our students and coaches,” said J. Scott Wunn, executive director of the National Speech & Debate Association, sponsor of the event. “We were thrilled to have some of the brightest students from across the world in Fort Lauderdale last week.”

Despite competing against an overwhelming majority of high school participants in the National Speech & Debate Association-sponsored event, Schmidt made it through four rounds before falling just before the semifinals were set. Debate topics for Schmidt and more than 4,000 other students during the competition included military spending, charter schools, health care, tax reform for church exemptions, among many others.

“The students who competed at the national tournament are truly the best of the best,” added Wunn. “These students have outstanding talents, and will go on to be successful college graduates and future leaders in their local communities as well as on a national level.”

Already a three-year veteran of speech and debate competition in middle school, this was Schmidt's second NSDA-sponsored national tournament. She plans to continue to compete at the high-school level and hopes to be the first Michigan student ever to qualify in Congressional Debate at the national level. In addition, she has participated in Michigan Youth in Government with ND Marist and looks forward to being a member of the first ND Prep delegation to the MYIG in March.

In November, Schmidt, at left in the front row, with fellow Notre Dame middle-schoolers Tess Censoni, Marisa Ricci, John Jernigan, Laura Schmidt and Mariana Ricci, got a chance to become acting state legislators in Lansing as part of the YMCA Michigan Youth in Government program.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org