West Fargo, ND – (December 12, 2022) – Mr. Nathan Kurtti, head debate coach at Sheyenne High School, was recently recognized by the National Speech and Debate Association for achieving the milestone of the Donus D. Robert's Award in speech and debate coaching excellence after achieving at least 10,000 points in the National Speech and Debate Association National Honor Society. 

The National Speech & Debate Association is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school, high school, and collegiate students in the United States. The Association provides competitive speech and debate activities, high-quality resources, comprehensive training, scholarship opportunities, and advanced recognition to more than 150,000 students and coaches every year. For more than 90 years, the National Speech & Debate Association has empowered more than 1.5 million members to become engaged citizens, skilled professionals, and honorable leaders in our society. For more information, visit www.speechanddebate.org. 

Speech and debate coaches earn points when the students on their teams earn points by competing in speech and debate tournaments. Coaches achieve this accomplishment after coaching students for multiple years, and this milestone highlights the achievement of continuous coaching and improvement of students who compete in speech and debate activities. This distinguished milestone and award shows Mr. Kurtti's commitment to coaching students in debate and recognizes his hard work in the activity. Mr. Kurtti has been head debate coach at Sheyenne High School since taking over the debate program in 2017.

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