Westglades Middle School Students Won Tournament Awards
Students from Westglades Middle School earned 21 awards during the 29th Annual Wakefield Flying L Tournament.
Updated on Sept. 28, 2026 in Secondary Education
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Forty students from Westglades Middle School traveled to Fort Lauderdale High School to compete against high school peers. The team walked away with 21 awards after participating in a variety of speech and debate categories.
Why it matters
The tournament allowed middle school students to gain experience by competing directly against older high school students in a daylong academic event.
Westglades students secured multiple top rankings, including first place in Dramatic Performance and Novice Original Oratory, and second place in Program Oral Interpretation.
The players
Westglades Middle School
This educational institution is located in South Florida and sent 40 students to compete at the tournament.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
This local secondary school participated in the tournament alongside the middle school students.
Fort Lauderdale High School
This local institution hosted the daylong competition and awards ceremony.
The details
The competitive categories included dramatic performance, original oratory, and public forum debate. Participants from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School also competed alongside the Westglades contingent.
Timeline
The 29th Annual Wakefield Flying L Tournament took place on September 28, 2026.
Culture Shift
This performance highlights the growing trend of middle school integration into high school competition circuits, reflecting the National Speech and Debate Association middle school expansion initiative. It marks a shift where younger students are increasingly seeking early exposure to academic debate environments.
The success of these students serves as a showcase for local secondary education programs and their extracurricular reach in Fort Lauderdale. Families may look toward these results as a benchmark for student development in speech and debate programs.
The takeaway
Participation in competitive speech and debate provides students with valuable public speaking and critical thinking experience at a young age. Early involvement in these tournaments can help prepare students for more rigorous high school competition and academic success.
Further reading
Learn more about local academic initiatives in our Secondary Education section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Parkland Talk.
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