MHS Students Prepare For State Student Congress

Milbank High School students took part in three events in preparation for the District Student Congress tournament scheduled for Friday, April 8, in Pierre. Students who attend the District Student Congress tournament will have the opportunity to qualify for the national tournament.

Four students earned awards at the Brookings Student Congress event Friday, April 1. Brianna Schreurs was named Superior Speaker and Rebekah Tuchscherer was named Outstanding Presiding Officer in the Experienced House. Tanner Kettwig also competed in the Experienced House for the first time. In the Inexperienced House, Caitlin Kroemer was awarded Outstanding Speaker and Kimberlly Aburto was named Superior Speaker. Tori Quade also competed in the Inexperienced House.

Milbank hosted a Student Congress tournament Tuesday, March 29, with 72 students competing from Brookings, Watertown, Aberdeen, Groton, and Milbank. The students were separated into four Houses, two experienced and two inexperienced. Caitlin Kroemer and Kimberlly Aburto received the maximum number of points of 24 and were nominated for speaker awards. Nathan Loutsch also earned 24 points in the event. Competing in the Experienced House for Milbank, along with their point totals, were Rebekah Tuchscherer (9), Macie Redmond (10), Chris Loutsch (5), Brianna Schreurs (13), Connor Lightfield (8) and Trevor Schmidt (10).
Participating in the Inexperienced House for Milbank were Maty Lightfield (6), Shawn Stemsrud (11), Sophia Seffrood (14), Abby Weber (10), Jessica Fenhaus (9), Makayla Johnson (10), Claire Mischel (18), Kimberlly Aburto (24), Tanner Kettwig (19), Caitlin Kroemer (24), Callie Bolin (9), Sara Capp (11), Nathan Loutsch (24), and Sadie Holland (8).

Milbank competed in its first Student Congress event Tuesday, March 22, during the Upper Dakota Forensics League event in Groton. Caitlin Kroemer, Kimberlly Aburto, and Tori Quade took part in the Inexperienced House and received two awards. Caitlin was named the Superior Speaker while Kimberlly was named Outstanding Speaker. “All three were excited about their first Student Congress experience,” said head coach Natasha Hartman.
In the Experienced House, Rebekah Tuchscherer was named the Outstanding Presiding Officer. Brianna Schreurs, Macie Redmond, and Connor Lightfield also took part in the Experienced House.

Student Congress is a simulation of the United States legislative process in which students generate a series of bills and resolutions for debate. Debaters alternate delivering speeches for and against the topic in a group setting. An elected student serves as a presiding officer to ensure debate flows smoothly. Students are assessed on their research, argumentation and delivery skills, and knowledge and use of parliamentary procedure.

Pictured left to right are MHS students who took part in the Brookings event April 1. They are: Kimberlly Aburto, Tori Quade, Tanner Kettwig, Rebekah Tuchscherer, Brianna Schreurs, and Caitlin Kroemer.