Cleveland Students to Compete in Tourney

Seniors Stacy Endman and Orlando Ayala of Cleveland High School will not receive their diplomas on June 18 with the rest of their graduating class.

That’s because Endman and Ayala, along with four of their schoolmates, will be in St. Louis competing against 500 of the top high school speakers and debaters in the National Forensic League Tournament June 15-19.

The Cleveland students qualified for the national competition after finishing either first or second in a tournament at Loyola High School in Los Angeles last week.

The event attracted competitors from about 50 high schools, including five in the Valley--Cleveland, Taft in Woodland Hills, Granada Hills and Harvard-Westlake in North Hollywood and the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in Reseda.

Endman, 18, who finished first in the dramatic category, will be making her second trip to the national tournament. In last year’s event in Minneapolis, Endman and her partner Megwynn White, currently a freshman at New York University, competed in the national championship in the duo interpretation category.

In St. Louis, Endman will not only be without a partner but she will be competing against a schoolmate, sophomore Jeff Diner, who finished second in dramatic interpretation in last week’s qualifier.

“It’s still a little scary because there’s this expectation to do well and last year I had someone by my side to support me, but now I’ll be by myself,” said Endman, an Encino resident.

Ayala and junior Javier Serrato will form a team in the duo interpretation event while sophomore David Ross will compete in the humorous category.

Sophomore Josh Schein qualified for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate category.