Speech and Debate team, and Coach, earn honors

The Mount Pleasant High School Speech and Debate team has received the highest team award possible from the National Speech and Debate Association. They have earned charter status in the Association. It shows that MPHS has demonstrated excellence in attaining new members and degrees in the Honor Society over the last three years.

On learning of the honor, Speech and Debate coach Cody Morris said, “Our commitment to the art of forensics has not gone unnoticed.”

In his letter to Morris, the Association’s Executive Director J. Scott Wunn said, “This designation demonstrates that under your leadership, not only is the team growing and competing at a high level, but you and your students uphold the highest standards of integrity, humility, respect, leadership and service in our organization.”

“We congratulate Cody and his students for this achievement,” said Dr. Judith Saxton, MPISD‘s Director of Communication. “The Debate program has grown under Cody’s leadership. We expect great things from the program in the future.”

The National Speech and Debate Association was created in 1925 to provide recognition and support for students participating in speech and debate activities. While the organization has evolved over the decades, its mission remains the same: to connect, support and inspire individuals and schools devoted to giving middle school, high school and collegiate students access to speech and debate.

Cody Morris, Mt. Pleasant High School Speech and Debate coach, has been awarded the National Speech and Debate Association’s Distinguished Service Key.

Morris earned the Key because of his 20 citations reflecting, according to the Association’s Executive Director J. Scott Wunn, “an outstanding commitment to the service of others” and the betterment of the Speech and Debate community.

Bruno E. Jacob, founder of the National Speech and Debate Association, initiated the Distinguished Service Key in 1925. Since that time only 363 coaches have earned this honor.

“Cody joined the district in the fall of 2013,” said Dr. Judi Saxton, MPISD’s Director of Communication. “Since that time he has revitalized the high school debate program. He even recruited two seventh graders to participate in the program, with great success. He is certainly deserving of this honor.”