Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Alejandro Medina placed eighth in the National Speech and Debate Tournament (NSDA) in Des Moines, Idaho. The competition took place from June 16 to 21 and was attended by more than 6,000 of the best speech students from around the country.  

Because of his placement in the competition, Medina automatically qualified for next year’s tournament. Medina is one of the two students from Illinois who received awards at the NSDA this year. 

Medina participated in the category of Dramatic Interpretation, performing a 10-minute cut of “The Falling Man” by Will Scheffer. 

Medina’s outstanding achievements in speech motivated his coach, Patt Cheney, to nominate him for the Hunsaker Secondary Student Award from the Illinois Speech and Communication Association (ICTA). Medina won the award, which is given to someone who has had major accomplishments in speech and has shown leadership in their community. 

He was presented the award at the ICTA convention in Palatine, which took place from Sept. 19 to 21.

When asked about joining the speech team, Medina said, “It’s so much fun. I’ve made some of my closest friends I have.” He added, “It’s so supportive. It gives me something to look forward to.”