Velasquez Academy

09/13/2026

Now at Cornell University in the Ivy League, longtime Velasquez Academy student Michelle Fan fulfilled a prophecy of greatness that I made to her parents years earlier when she authored an unforgettable moment as California High School Speech Association Champion of Impromptu Speaking at the 2024 CA High School State Speech & Debate Championship tournament in Clovis, CA!

08/28/2026

Velásquez Academy places EIGHTEEN entries in the Top 3 @2026 MS & ES State Championship Tournament, including championing or placing runner-up in MS Worlds Schools Debate, MS Assigned Platform, MS Spar, MS Prose (by a 4th Grader!!!) or ES Spar!

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07/31/2026

The fifth time that we finished FIRST in the United States was when 7th Grader (future Stanford University student) Adrian Baek pulled off the near impossible and went from zero speech & debate experience to, 9 months later, becoming National Champion in Middle School Congressional Debate at the 2019 NSDA Nationals in Dallas, Texas. This was his crowning moment. Also pictured is his schoolmate Jaden Wee, who placed 6th in Declamation and 12th in Storytelling for us.

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07/31/2026

Velasquez 7th Grader Joie Zhang (who would later go on to graduate from Princeton Univ.) won Lincoln-Douglas Debate & the Top Speaker in LD Debate at the 2017 NSDA Middle School Nationals, our 3rd & 4th times that one of our students outlasted all other students for 1st Place overall at NSDA Nationals!

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07/30/2026

Velásquez kids at the 2016 NSDA Middle School Nationals in Salt Lake City advanced in 5 categories, with 7th Grader Carly Granda winning the National Championship (second year in a row with an NSDA title) in Informative Speaking and 8th Grader Dorothy Vassantachart flexing incredible range by reaching Quarter-Finals in Poetry, Semi-Finals in Declamation and Finals (tying for 1st Place in BOTH, but getting heartbreakingly tiebroken down to 3rd Place in both) in both Impomptu Speaking and Original Oratory!! AMAZING and dazzling, at the very least, especially after having also made Finals in all four categories at the California State Championship tournament, placing 1st in Oratory and 2nd in Declamation.Dorothy would go on to attend Columbia University and Carly would graduate from Cornell Universtiy. SO PROUD!!

Velásquez kids at the 2016 NSDA Middle School Nationals in Salt Lak...

06/28/2026

Our great announcement from the 2026 NSDA National Tournament is that FOR THE SIXTEENTH TIME IN FOURTEEN YEARS, ONE OF OUR KIDS HAS TAKEN FIRST PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS to 10th Grader Hannah Yang of Harvard-Westlake High School and West Los Angeles Violet WSD for winning Top Speaker in World Schools Debate!! Hannah had now become our first speaker to take 1st Place at NSDA Nationals at BOTH the Middle School and High School levels, cementing her place in our history (though she still trails two or three other Velasquez kids in total number of Final Rounds at NSDA Nationals, giving ample indication how brilliantly previous Velásquez students have fared)!!

This is the 16th time in 14 years that a Hilda Velásquez Academy st...

06/20/2026

Velásquez Academy kids at the 2022 NSDA Middle School Nationals placed 3rd (Pro-Con Debate), 4th (Impromptu) and 4th & 5th (Extemp)!

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06/16/2026

Velásquez Academy's 13 GOLD MEDAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS & 10 SILVER MEDAL NATIONAL RUNNER UPS earn us the #1 ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL at the 2026 N.O.F. Async Nationals!! Third year in a row with 13+ NOF Async National Champions!!

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05/07/2026

There’s no thrill like your first time! Our first ever NSDA National Champion came on our second try at Nationals in 2015, through a rookie at Congressional Debate whose speech career had started very humbly and haltingly, but ended with a transformation in confidence and grace that ultimately led to his admission to STANFORD UNIVERSITY!!!

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04/11/2026

Velásquez Academy kids rocked the 2025 Middle School & Elementary School California State Championship Tournament, winning both MS (1st-3rd) & ES (1st-2nd) Declamation, both MS (1st-3rd) & ES Assigned Platform, both of the Top 2 Overall MS Speakers and 1st Place in both MS Spar & MS Impromptu!!!

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