Panama team wins in its NHI digital Great Debate debut

This story is by Tomas Miriti Pacheco.

In its digital Great Debate debut, the team from Panamá emerged victorious in the National Hispanic Institute’s Texas GDx2 competition held this past Wednesday through Friday.

The Panamanian team bested the team representing Corpus Christi and an NHI Global Team, comprised of students from regions who sent teams to the first GDx event this summer—Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, and Tip of Texas—as well as the Northeast region.

The Texas GDx2, part of NHI’s 2020 Digital Learning Experiences, closed Friday with a finals competition and an awards ceremony celebrating individual achievements and announcing the program’s champions.

The Texas GDx2 featured a variety of competitions designed to promote public speaking skills, critical thinking, and problem solving on a global scale. It also included the Community Assets Project, designed to help students apply NHI’s asset-based approach to viewing communities to their respective regions. “I think it’s so special anytime people can come together and think about the beauty and the power in their communities,” commented Maya Navar, Tournament Director of the inaugural GDx2.

“You’re part of your home region, but you’re a part of a bigger community called NHI,” said Chris Nieto, Senior Vice President over Enrollment Management and IT, as he addressed participants at the awards ceremony’s start. “What you’ve embarked on these past few days is a broadening of your global network.”

The awards ceremony, hosted on Zoom and streamed live on YouTube, featured honors for overall team scoring, each of the competition’s separate categories, and the selection of a member from each team for the Most Improved award. Placements in each category also included All-State winners, participants with the highest average scores in a section without making it to the finals.

Winners included:

Cross Examination

All State: Veronica Banat, Colts Neck High School, Englishtown, New Jersey; Natalie Tristan, J.W. Nixon High School, Laredo, Texas (NHI Global Team)
2nd Place: Lia Saenz, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá; Leire Lasa, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá (Panamá Team)
1st Place: Maria Fernanda Reyes, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá; Daniel Boza, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá (Panamá Team)

Oratory

All State: Ana Paula Duque, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá (Panamá Team)
2nd Place: Daniela Cachafeiro, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá (Panamá Team)
1st Place: Ana Martinez, Oratory Athenaeum for University Preparation, Pharr, Texas (NHI Global Team)

Extemporaneous Speaking

All State: Suhwani Narang, W. B. Ray High School, Corpus Christi, Texas (Corpus Christi Team)
2nd Place: Aniela Matulewicz, McAllen Memorial High School, McAllen, Texas (NHI Global Team)
1st Place: Elise Bostian, TMI Episcopal, San Antonio, Texas (NHI Global Team)

Team Trial

All State: Elizabeth Garcia, W. B. Ray High School, Corpus Christi, Texas; Sydney Ballesteros, Veterans Memorial High School, Corpus Christi, Texas (Corpus Christi Team)
2nd Place: Karolina Rivera, Colegio Real, Panamá, Panamá, and Claudia Mejia, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá (Panamá Team)
1st Place: Catalina Arriaga, South Texas Academy of Medical Professions, San Benito, Texas, and Victoria Otero-Lai, IB at Lamar Academy, McAllen, Texas (NHI Global Team)

Athenaeum

House Maxwell
1st Place: LatinX Masterpieces Pod 3

• Benjamin Garza, Central Catholic High School, San Antonio
• Ana Martinez, Oratory Athenaeum for University Preparation, Pharr, Texas
• Juan Dario Almanza, Colegio Real, Panamá, Panamá
• Juan David Lee, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá
• Leire Lasa, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá
• Maria Alejandra Leon, Academia Internacional Boquete, Alto Boquete, Panamá

House Magnolia
1st Place: POD 4 Winner Girls

• Isabela Ross, International School of the Americas, San Antonio, Texas
• Natalie Tristan, J.W. Nixon High School, Laredo, Texas
• Sydney Ballesteros, Veterans Memorial High School, Corpus Christi, Texas
• Andrea Lachman, Academia Internacional Boquete, Alto Boquete, Panamá
• Claudia Mejia, Colegio Brader, Panamá, Panamá

Community Assets Project Winners

3rd Place, Panamá
2nd Place, San Antonio (for NHI Global Team)
1st Place, Corpus Christi

Most Improved

Teams

Corpus Christi: Sydney Ballesteros, Veterans Memorial High School, Corpus Christi
NHI Global: Natalie Tristan, J.W. Nixon High School, Laredo
Panama: Valerie Diaz Blanco, Academia Internacional Boquete, Alto Boquete, Panamá

Regions

RGV: Catalina Arriaga, South Texas Academy of Medical Professions, San Benito,
San Antonio: Benjamin Juarez. St. Anthony Catholic High School, San Antonio

The GDx is sponsored in part by State Farm and Union Pacific.