PHOTO SOURCE: Stacie Kirsch

Alexa Lewis, Magnus McVay, Not pictured: Cannon Whitney

Three students on the Canyon Ridge Speech and Debate team have qualified for the 2026 Speech and Debate National Tournament in Richmond, Virginia, this year. According to the National Speech and Debate Association, the tournament is the largest academic competition in America, and it will take place from June 14th to 19th. Cannon Whitney, a senior, placed first for Congressional Debate, Alexa Lewis, a sophomore, has placed third for Dramatic Interpretation, and Magnus McVay, a freshman, has placed third for Humorous Interpretation. 

Cannon Whitney is in his second year on the team. In congressional debate, often referred to as congress, students gather and role-play as legislators and vote on proposed bills. These bills can be submitted by students or the National Speech and Debate Association, and the students’ goal is to debate and pass them. 

Cannon says he partially believes his success at the national qualifying tournament was luck. Cannon said, “I want to pretend like [it was] hard work, but it was inherently luck. I have probably [worked] more than I’ve worked for any other tournament, but speech and debate is a little bit of luck, and the moment you realize that, the moment you’re better off.” 

Cannon had mixed feelings after he qualified. “You get a sense of ethereal rush, and it’s always like, ‘wow, I can’t believe I did this,’ but as [with] anything, when you win, you have to go back, and you have to do it again. So you’re really excited, and then it’s, ‘oh, not yet, I have to go to nationals.’”

Cannon’s is excited to meet and debate with new people at nationals and leave a lasting legacy on CRHS’s Speech and Debate Team.

Alexa Lewis is in her first year on the team and has worked thoroughly to perfect her dramatic interpretation. Known widely as one of the NSDA’s most popular interpretation events, D.I. is an event where a speaker is given ten minutes and a 30-second grace period to perform an emotionally dramatic interpretation of a previously selected script. 

Alexa’s piece is a cutting from a book entitled Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park. Alexa portrays an older sister, Phoebe, processing the grief of losing her younger brother, Mick. The speech and debate coach, Mrs. Kirsch, gave Alexa the book to interpret. 

“I immediately fell in love with the script. It’s such a good script because I have a little brother, and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I lost him in this kind of situation. It also has the lighter moments of the character Phoebe reminiscing through these old memories, which makes it such a lighthearted story.”


“I spent a lot of time with the script. I read the actual book, so I had more of an understanding that helped me connect deeper with the character,” said Alexa. She even noted that she had worked so intensely on her piece that she almost threw up while practicing once. At nationals, Alexa is excited to see new pieces, meet new people, wear her new professional outfit, and compete with pride for her school.

Despite qualifying for humorous interpretation for nationals, Magnus McVay has not broken (meaning the speaker advances past preliminary rounds) at any tournaments this year for his humorous interpretation. Magnus says it’s entirely up to the judges, which is why he is glad that at the nationally qualifying tournament, each judge was certified by the National Speech & Debate Association. 

Humorous interpretation follows the same guidelines as dramatic interpretation. Magnus said, “It’s supposed to be funny. 
It’s supposed to be very organic. The speech can go any direction that you want it as long as it’s following the script. ” Magnus’s script is cut from Aw Nuts by Abram Sand, a short story about a peanut-allergy-prone Marvin and his adventures to rid himself of his allergy. In the story, Magnus plays many characters. “I have to be a woman one second and an evil witch the next.”

To perfect his H.I., Magnus worked hard to fully understand and memorize his script. “My first step is memorization and rough blocking. I get my script, and I just read it over and over again. That way, I get a feel for how I want to follow with my blocking. I start off by defining every single word in the script in a notebook or a Google doc. Then I go directly into blocking so that I’m breaking down the scenes into like actions and things like that, and then it’s just running it. I easily run my scenes over 100 times.”

“I was very joyous. I was so happy. I’ve been working so hard all year, and to qualify as a freshman, something that doesn’t happen a lot, it felt really joyous. But on the bus ride, I was thinking, I’m not done yet. I still have to go to nationals, and I still have to try my hardest there. 
I want to give myself a fighting chance.”

Magnus is proud to represent his school at nationals. “I love my school more than a lot of things. And I love the feeling of the school experience. 
And to put Canyon Ridge, a school from Idaho, on a national stage, it would be such a cool thing for both the school and for me. Since I’m representing such a small thing on the national scale, from a little school in Idaho, to be able to go to nationals, it feels really good.”