Three Cherokee High School (CHS) team members and five Sequoyah High School (SHS) team members are headed to the 2018 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, FL from June 17-22.

CHS Junior John Peterson won third place in Congressional Debate at the regional Georgia North Mountain District meet and will compete in this category at Nationals. He also won third place overall at the State competition for Lincoln Douglas Debate. CHS Juniors Anne Greer and Sean Howell were selected at the regional event to compete in the World Schools Debate at Nationals, and both won top speaker awards at the State event. Anne also was recognized as one of the top eight Lincoln Douglas Debaters in Georgia. The CHS team is coached by teacher Jamie Wills who was named the 2018 Georgia North Mountain District Coach of the Year after leading the team to be recognized as a Leslie Watkins School of Excellence for its success in qualifying students for State competition.

SHSs Noah Campbell won first place in Big Questions Debate and will be competing in this category at Nationals. SHSs Rebekah Carnes and Maddie Doerr won first place for Duo Interpretation and will be competing in this event at Nationals. Rebekah Carnes also won first place for Humorous Interpretation. In addition, SHSs Jack Forbes and Andrew Doerr were chosen as delegates for the World Schools Debate team and will compete in this event at Nationals. Coaches Matt Bartula and Katie Maher lead the Sequoyah Speech and Debate Team.