Hays HS Debate & Forensics

10/03/2026

🏆 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍! 🏆

What a day for Hays High debate! Our team just returned from the Hoisington Invitational with a 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆 and a whole lot of hardware! 🎉

🥇 𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗘: 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆. 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲. 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺. 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱. Each went 3-1!
🥇 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲: Ava Breit & Brittany Schmeidler
🥉 𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲: Brandie Bogle & Jadyn Sennett–Proctor
🏅 𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲: Meadow Wickham & Ben Zeller

💪 𝗝𝗩: Mario Hernandez & Josiah Olmstead finished 2-2 and narrowly missed the medal stand. Great fight, gentlemen!

🔥 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻: Liza Bergman & Kaylee Desair took 𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 with a 2-2 record!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗮𝘆! Teams need a 50% or better record at three tournaments to qualify, and our JV and Open teams each just checked off the first one. That's one-third of the way there! 🚀

Congratulations to our debaters on a fantastic day, and thank you to the families and fans who support this team. This is just the beginning. Go Indians! 🗣️🏆

09/16/2026

🎃 𝗛𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛 𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟 — 𝗪𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬! 🎃

Hays High School Debate & Forensics is putting on a Halloween Carnival fundraiser, and we would love for the Hays community to help us make it a HUGE success!

📅 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏
⏰ 𝟒:𝟎𝟎–𝟕:𝟎𝟎 𝐏𝐌
📍 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥

We’re planning an evening full of Halloween fun, including 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑠, 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑘-𝑜𝑟-𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡, 𝑘𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑜𝑘𝑒, 𝑎 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒-𝑂𝑓𝑓, 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒, 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒! Costumes are definitely encouraged. 👻🎤🍬🧁

But we need some help from our amazing community!

🚗 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒌-𝒐𝒓-𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕?
We are looking for individuals, families, organizations and businesses who would like to decorate a vehicle, hand out candy and help create a fun and safe Halloween experience for local kids.

🎁 𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 — 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕!
We are also seeking donations to use as prizes for our carnival games and fundraiser. Donations could include gift certificates, merchandise, electronics, gift baskets, services or other items. We would be incredibly grateful for both large and small donations!

Every donation and every person who participates helps support our Hays High Debate & Forensics students, giving them opportunities to compete, travel, grow their skills and represent Hays High School.

If you would like to 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒, 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑒, 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑘-𝑜𝑟-𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡, 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦, please send us an email ([email protected]) or contact Assistant Coach, Michele English of the Hays High Speech & Debate program.

Please share this post and help us spread the word! 🧡💜

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬! 🎃👻

08/21/2026

Hays High Debate is BACK — and we've got merch! 🏆

This team is off to a roaring start! 20 first-year and advanced debaters just wrapped an awesome summer camp, and with school back in session, we are ready to compete.

To celebrate, we teamed up with the amazing folks at Redeem Design to create this year's official Debate T-shirt — and we want YOU to have one! Every shirt you order helps support our growing program.

🗓️ Order by August 30th to snag this year's exclusive design.

👉 Shop here: https://hayshighdebate.itemorder.com/shop/home/

06/11/2026

On the road again! Representing Hays High Debate & Forensics: Sofia, Emily, and Joseph are bound for the NSDA National Tournament in Richmond, VA with Coach English and Claudio! So many of our amazing Hays community have come out to help make this journey possible. In addition to these great business groups who have donated to our cause, we’d like to recognize these individuals who have made donations: Melissa Zolnierz, Amy Bergman, Cynthia Stone, Dana Stanton, Mike Morley, Jonathan English, Joshua Callahan, Deana Rupp, Greg Swob, and a very generous anonymous donor. Thank you all so much!

05/20/2026

DON’T COOK — SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE!

Join us at Gambino’s Pizza (2102 Vine St.)
Tuesday, May 27 | 4 PM – Close

Every order helps send Hays High Debate & Forensics to Nationals!

Bring friends. Bring family. Show up hungry. Eat in, call in, or deliver. Make a difference!

05/18/2026

Hi, this is Paul English with Hays High School Debate & Forensics. Please help us raise money for our fundraiser to the National Speech & Debate Association’s national tournament by clicking the link below. Thank you! Hays High School Debate & Forensics

05/04/2026

The Hays High Forensics team made the big trip to State competition this weekend and did our school proud. Friday night saw our One-Act perform at the State Festival and did phenomenally, bringing back a I rating for “Cheating Death”! The rest of the crew made their way to Wichita to get ready for competition at the State Championship at Valley Center. Brayden Staley competed in Impromptu and was joined by Evie Dietz who also did International Extemp. Joseph Zolnierz joined in the IX and took his Informative speech to the tournament. Sofia competed in Informative. Emily Nicholas argued in United States Extemp. Elisabeth Bergman took an amazing Program Oral Interpretation to competion. The team worked hard in prelims and it was Sofia San Martin that broke to SemiFinals. She finished in 7th place, missing out breaking to finals by a small increment, but did amazing in her first trip to Forensics State tournament. She will be joined by Joseph Zolnierz and Emily Nicholas for the National tournament next month. All have earned a break… but debate season is just around the corner! 🗯️

04/20/2026

04/20/2026

The 2026 regular season for Hays High Forensics has come to a close. We haven’t updated the last couple of tournaments but have been successful in our efforts to get our team to state and beyond. Just before spring break the team traveled to Nickerson. Sofia San Martin continued to dominate taking 1st in Info 10 and 5th in Extemp. Joseph Zolnierz punched his card to the State Championship taking 1st in Extemp. He also medaled in Info 10 at 5th. Liza Bergman got 5th in POI and Maia Gray got 7th in Prose. After hosting here at the end of the March, we traveled to Hoisington on April 4th, where we continued to find opportunities to make it to the State tournament. Joseph qualified in his Info 10 and medaled again in Extemp. In Original Oration, Maggie Olson and Evie Dietz were able to medal and qualify for State Championships. In a mid-week tournament, Evie was able to add Impromptu and Extemp to her state qualifications and Sofia and Emily Nicholas medaled in Info 10 and Extemp, respectively. On April 11th we journeyed to McPherson and Emily took the lone medal of the day in US Extemp.

This past weekend the team headed to Salina South in two squads. The first group went on April 17th to start the National Speech and Debate Associations West Kansas district qualifying tournament. Sophia brought her Informative speech on the English language. Joseph competed in International Extemporaneous speaking and Emily in United States Extemporaneous speech. This 2 day tournament gave each of these competitors the opportunity to attend the national tournament in Richmond, VA in June by finishing in the two slots for each event. Sophia finished very strongly at 2nd place, earning her spot at the national convention. In all 5 rounds, at least 1 of the judges from each round picked hers as the best speech of the round. This is her 2nd year of qualifying for the national tournament, going last summer with Policy Debate. Joseph and Emily both were in the top 6 of preliminary rounds and finished 5 in a very competitive field. Because of the mechanism for choosing which individuals go from each of the schools, the 2 from both Extemp groups fell to 3rd and 4th. Both of the came within a few points from earning their spot in Extemp at the national tournament! They certainly showed growth and strength in their work and will continue to be a force to reckoned with next year! Our other group came on Saturday for the Salina South invitational and Kristen Lundgerg took the 6th place medal.

02/21/2026