Speech & Debate Makes It Six Straight State Titles

Even in what could have been a rebuilding year, Catholic Memorial’s speech and debate team reaffirmed its dominance, capturing the Massachusetts Speech and Debate League Speech and Congress Tournament Championship. It marks CM’s sixth consecutive title and eighth since 2017.

Despite graduating a large senior class, the team delivered with several standout performances. In total, CM had 24 finalists across 13 categories, including four first-place finishes and three categories with at least three finalists.

“Winning never gets tiring because you're always dealing with new young people for whom this is one of the greatest things in their lives,” said head coach Br. Anthony Cavet. “The kids never get tired of it—and that’s what makes it special.”

One of the standout performances came from the team of Jack Holland ’25 and Donovan Burke ’26, who defended their Duo Interpretation championship. This year, they swapped last year’s comedic routine about football players forced to join the cheerleading squad for a somber, emotionally charged piece about an insurance investigator who discovers that the man whose application he’s scrutinizing is a Holocaust survivor whose family was killed in concentration camps.

“This year had a completely different feel,” said Holland. “Last year at practice, we’d be goofing around, throwing in silly bits. This year, we’re telling a story about people dying. It’s a real-world issue, and it puts into perspective how important it is to share this story.”

Holland also placed third in Children’s Literature, joined by Owen Vieira ’27 (fifth) and Andrew DeSimone ’28 (sixth).

In Impromptu Speaking, Luke Roberto ’26 took first place with an unconventional story. Given a prompt about overcoming failure, Roberto recounted the iconic Happy Days episode where the Fonz attempts to jump over 14 garbage cans on his motorcycle, only to crash into Arnold’s Chicken Stand.

“We all need to do the bike jump in life, even if we crash into the chicken stand,” said Roberto. “There were times we failed this year, but when the captains tell you to go see Br. Cavet after school, and you listen, you get better. You overcome your challenges and reach your success. 

Ultimately, it’s nice to walk on that stage, get your award, and hear your name called last.”

Several team members will go on to represent CM at two national tournaments: the NCFL Grand National Tournament over Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago, Illinois, and the NSDA National Tournament in June in Des Moines, Iowa.