Phillips wins speech and debate title to lead strong Central showing at national tournament

A Central High School debater is a national champion.

Jordan Phillips claimed the honor last week at the National Speech & Debate Association tournament in Louisville, Kent.

The organization also named the recent Central graduate as a finalist for its National Student of the Year Award.

Phillips led an amazing performance for the Central debate team at the tournament. She won the extemporaneous commentary category, which had 267 competitors, said Central teacher and debate coach Kerry Konda.

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Phillips said she usually focuses on the original oratory category, which consists of a 10-minute speech prepared in advance. She placed in the top 60 in that category.  

In extemporaneous commentary, competitors have 20 minutes to research a topic and prepare and memorize a five-minute speech. For one round, Phillips gave a speech about Jupiter. And in the final round, her topic was water scarcity.

It was her first time trying extemporaneous commentary

Phillips said she decided to try the extemporaneous commentary category as something new. As in brand new. She said she had never competed in the category before.

It worked out pretty well

After traveling all the way to Louisville, Phillips decided she might as well make the most of the tournament. After all, taking a chance and trying something new is how Phillips discovered her love for speech and debate in the first place. She decided to give it a go after Konda approached her at the Brown County Fair and suggested she try it since she was a new student. The Phillips family had just moved to Aberdeen from Ohio.

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Phillips' father, Saul, is the men's basketball coach at Northern State University. Her mother, Nicole, is an author and host of "The Kindness Podcast."

But Jordan Phillips has made her own name in town, collecting many honors and awards, and she discovered that trying something new revealed a skill she didn't even know she had.

Phillips finished as runner-up for the Student of the Year Award at the tournament, which is open to seniors. She was previously nominated in the Northern South Dakota District. After arriving in Louisville, she participated in various interviews, which she said she enjoyed because she got to brag about her community.

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The questions were about the effect that speech and debate has had on her life. Phillips said her answers focused on her adjustment to the Aberdeen community and how she will give back by eventually going into the nonprofit sector. Skills that Phillips learned in speech and debate will help her with community interaction, she said.

Phillips is Central's second Student of the Year finalist in three years. Mariah William was a finalist in 2020.

Next stop for Phillips is college at Duke

Phillips will attend Duke University in North Carolina in the fall. While she is excited for the next step, she said she will miss the Aberdeen community and her debate teammates, who all had an incredible run at the tournament.

“You can’t ask for a better team. That’s the hardest part of leaving is having to leave behind those incredible teammates. But they’re going to do incredible things next year,” Phillips said.

Konda said that the team’s accomplishments at the tournament were unbelievable, even for a coach of 14 years. 

More:Central debate team claim fifth straight state title

Other Central debaters also saw considerable success at the national tournament:

• In extemporaneous debate, Lily Williams broke the school record with a Round 10 appearance, placing 14th in the nation out of 856 entries.  
• Abiah George and Sami Hegge placed 19th in public forum out of 258 entries. They made Round 10, but lost their last round in a 2-1 split.
• Kayla Waltman made the top 30 in informative speaking.
• Aubrey Brockel made the top 38 out of 105 entries in the big question category and gave the tournament champion his only loss. 
• Christine Crouch made the top 120 in poetry. 
• Breanna Wollman made the top 120 in expository.
• Olivia Johnson and Ashley Crouch made the top 60 in expository.