San Antonio wins Texas Ambassador Great Debate at UT-Austin

The University of Texas at Austin hosted nearly 175 students from across Texas when the Texas Ambassador Great Debate — one of NHI’s newest series — convened July 23-26. Like its Texas Great Debate predecessor, the debate features teams representing Texas cities and regions, and the San Antonio team took honors this year as the event’s top team.

Melissa Garcia, the program’s Educational Director, said, “Watching 9th graders grasp at their true voice for the first time is the absolute best! I love watching kids with a bounce in their step after ‘nailing’ their competition knowing they conquered whatever fear they had and just had fun doing it!”

NHI founder and president Ernesto Nieto, addressing the University of Texas at Austin’s role as host university for the program, noted, “Being in a flagship campus for a high school freshman can either be intimidating or inspiring. We bet on the positive side of this equation, through the early exposure of having NHI students on campus, and allowing them to meet college professors who once attended NHI programs. It makes the transition to college more familiar and easier in the end.”

Individual winners included:

CX:
1st Place: El Paso – Carly Pearson, El Paso HS, El Paso, & Karla Ramos, El Paso HS, El Paso
2nd Place: Houston – Eunice Marzano, Mount Carmel Academy, Houston, Texas, & Noah Scantelbery, Lamar HS, Houston, Texas
All-State: San Antonio – Nereida Flores, Young Women’s Leadership Academy, San Antonio & Korbin San Miguel, Antonian HS, San Antonio

Mock:
1st Place: Rio Grande Valley – Margaux Ochoa, Memorial HS, McAllen, & Alexa Alvarez, South Texas Business, Education, and Technology Academy, Edinburg
2nd Place: San Antonio – Gabriella Garcia, Young Women’s Leadership Academy, San Antonio & Katelyn Gartrell, Alamo Heights HS, Alamo Heights
All-State: Rio Grande Valley – Sofia Moon, Science Academy of South Texas, Mercedes

Oratory:
1st Place: Rio Grande Valley – Shaena Reyes, James “Nikki” Rowe HS, McAllen
2nd Place: El Paso – Miranda Escobar, Radford HS, El Paso
All-State: San Antonio – Ramiro Rodriguez, Ronald Reagan HS, San Antonio

Extemp:
1st Place: Laredo – Ashley Boubel, J.B. Alexander HS, Laredo
2nd Place: Rio Grande Valley – Omar Guajardo, Science Academy of South Texas, Mercedes
All-State: San Antonio – Gabriel Garcia, Central Catholic HS, San Antonio

In addition, Camila Mosier Giovine of the El Paso team (Coronado HS) won the Atheneum award.