GREENFIELD — Stoneleigh-Burnham School Debate and Public Speaking Society member Jacqueline “Jax” Morgan has earned a berth to the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship in Toronto, Canada.
Morgan, of Middleton, who will graduate in 2019, will join an elite group of competitors from Stoneleigh Burnham, dating back to 1988, who have made it to Worlds. The championship will be held April 11 through 17, 2019.
One of the private school’s signature programs, debate and public speaking has a long history there. Morgan is the 18th debater in the school’s history to qualify for the world competition; one student qualified two years in a row.
Morgan qualified for the world championship during the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition held in Toronto Oct. 25 through 28, where she and teammates Beatrice Brynda (2020) of Deerfield and Joy Lundberg (2020) of Salisbury Beach competed with about 150 students from 47 schools from around the world.
Morgan placed as a finalist in two categories — interpretive reading and impromptu speaking. Only about 15 percent of competitors typically make it to the finals. Coming out of the preliminary rounds she was, in the category of interpretive reading, in 11th place overall and in first place among U.S. schools.
Morgan’s interpretive reading was so powerful that a Toronto coach who had judged her in the category reached out to Stoneleigh Burnham co-coach Karen Suchenski saying, “Congratulations on a spellbinding presentation. What an amazing performer you have on your hands. … Her reading simply blew me away. I have never seen/heard anything like it.”
In impromptu speaking, Morgan was fifth overall and first in U.S. schools. Overall, she earned third place out of all U.S. speakers. Her three-member team earned fourth place among the U.S. schools competing.
Her teammates performed well — in the category of after-dinner speaking, Lundberg was 14th overall (fourth among U.S. schools) and Brynda was 15th overall (fifth among U.S. schools). In after-dinner, Morgan was 17th overall (sixth among U.S. schools).
Since 1869, Stoneleigh-Burnham School has been preparing girls in grades 7 through 12 for college and the world. The next open house at the school will be held on Monday. For more information, visit: www.sbschool.org.