In June, a regional delegation consisting of three representatives from The Richmond Forum—Executive Director Bill Chapman, Director of Student Programs Sandra Wheeler, and Education Committee Chair Siri Wiggins; Darrell Wilson, Assistant Director of Student Activities at the Virginia High School League; Mike Taylor, Executive Director of the Henrico Education Foundation; and Jerrine Lee, Sports Development Manager for Richmond Region Tourism attended the 2019 National Speech and Debate Association Competition. Each year, the tournament draws nearly 5,000 students from around the country to compete in various speech and debate events from dramatic interpretation and extemporaneous speaking to debating the issues of the day.
Bill Chapman and Sandy Wheeler were honored to serve as finalist judges and the delegation learned first-hand the inner workings of running a tournament of this size and scope with the hopes of hosting a future Nationals in Richmond.
Siri Wiggins, Darrell Wilson, Sandra Wheeler, Mike Taylor, Jerrine Lee, and Bill Chapman attend the 2019 NSDA Tournament in June 2019.