DECA, Debate, and Quiz Bowl: Clubs Excel During Competitive Season

For some clubs at the Merle-Smith Campus, membership is about collaboration and camaraderie as much as it is excelling in competition.

Quiz Bowl Wins 2023 PBS39 Scholastic Scrimmage

By Kevin Ferdinand

The Moravian Academy Upper School Quiz Bowl Team won the PBS39 Scholastic Scrimmage Competition for the second year in a row. This year’s team was entirely new from last year’s successful team, and consisted of two seniors, Ellie Capobianco ’23 and Okezue Bell ’23, and two freshmen, Tyler Shankweiler ’26 and team captain Nathaniel Schmidt ’26. Nathaniel also represented Moravian Academy in the All Stars match.

The team went on to compete at the state PBS contest, finishing second overall. The matches aired on PBS39 and are available to stream online at www.wlvt.org/education/scholastic-scrimmage.

DECA Does It Again: International Career Development Conference 2023

By Ingrid Gerber

The Moravian Academy Chapter of DECA has returned from an exciting five days in Orlando, Florida where the top DECA finalists from all over the world competed to earn recognition.

Moravian’s chapter had 14 students who qualified for the conference. They joined over 22,000 students who have created some of the most innovative business plans and entrepreneurial marketing campaigns for high school students in the world. Representing Moravian’s chapter this year were:

Sunny Chen ‘24, Abby Dubow ‘25, Ria Gandotra ‘26, Roshen Gandotra ‘23, Kanchan Gupta ‘24, Krish Gupta ‘24, Laura Li ‘26, Katie Lu ‘24, Rayna Malhotra ‘24, Lena Nifong ‘24, Ginevra Toso, and Wisdom Ufondu ‘23. (Okezue Bell ‘23 qualified but was unable to attend.)

Each student met with judges who evaluated them on the content and innovation of their written work, their presentation and public speaking skills, and their creativity. While all the students did remarkable work, we had two student projects who placed in the top 10 overall for their category. Wisdom Ufondu ‘23 (and Okezue Bell ‘23) placed in the top 10 with their Innovation Business Plan and Sunny Chen ‘24 & Krish Gupta ‘24 placed top 10 with their Independent Business Plan.

Moravian Academy Hosts Speech & Debate Tournament

By Bud Brennan

On February 11, 2023, our school hosted its first speech and debate tournament at the Merle-Smith Campus: The MA Invitational. Student competitors from five area schools attended the competition, with Moravian’s speech and debate team leaving the tournament with strong placings:

• Okezue Bell ’23 and Wisdom Ufondu ’23

2nd Place Public Forum

• Rayna Malhotra ’24 and Alizeh Ali ’24

4th Place Public Forum

• Shaan Ailawadi ’26 and Aveer Chadha ’26

6th Place Public Forum