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It’s Kristine Keang’s first year on the Reynolds High School Speech and Debate team, but that hasn’t stopped her from dominating her inaugural season.
Together, Keang, a senior, and Reynolds freshman Kueh Dee have qualified for a spot at the National Speech and Debate Association’s 2026 National Tournament. They compete in a speech event known as Duo Interpretation, where teams have 10 minutes to perform a fully memorized piece of published work.
The golden script? “A Fare Ride” by Matt Thompson, a play about a wannabe desperate bank robber who gets into a taxi cab with an eager, witty female driver. Keang says it stood out to her and Dee because of its humor—and a mention or two of Oregon.
In preparation for her Duo performance, Keang says she practiced for hours, listening to herself on voice memos and reviewing the script before she went into any room. The event bars the use of props or any other tools that could help move the narrative, meaning it relies solely on being experimental with tone of voice and inflections. (Accents are fair game, too.)
All that work paid off, Keang says, in March at the North Oregon NSDA national qualifiers. She remembers a pit growing in her stomach as she awaited final results. One of the team’s judges told her and Dee that he’d ranked them first.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe we have a shot at Nationals,’” she recalls. “While we were waiting in anticipation for the results, and not hearing our names, because they usually [announce results] by in third, in second…we hadn’t heard ours yet. I was just like, ‘Oh, shoot, maybe I’m just never gonna go.’ And then first place was our code. I was really happy.”
But as it turns out, getting to Nationals is just part of the challenge. Reynolds speech and debate coach Valerie Schiller, who’s also a language arts and social studies teacher at the school, says it will take a lot to get the team to the tournament, this year hosted in Richmond, Va.
“Teams like ours, we have to work a lot harder to get resources,” Schiller says. “We don’t necessarily have the parent support that other teams have, and we don’t necessarily have multiple adults. I’m the only coach. There’s a lot of obstacles that get in our way, but the team’s hard work and perseverance has paid off.”
The Reynolds School District sits in East Multnomah County, spanning Gresham, Fairview and Troutdale, and is currently trying to bridge a $20 million budget shortfall. So resources are scarce.
Schiller and her students have worked hard to secure some funding opportunities, she says, including from an NSDA scholarship, school fundraisers and the Portland Urban Debate League. But they’re struggling to afford everything, and there’s still a ways to go. A GoFundMe that Dee has put together has raised $45 dollars of its $1,200 goal. (Aside from Keung and Dee, two other Reynolds students are going to nationals as supplemental entries. They’ll be accompanied by Schiller and another teacher chaperone.)
The team of six will need to afford airfare, lodging, entry fees, meals, ground transportation, and clothing for the event.
Keang says competing at the national level would mean a lot to her—she’s watched many videos of performances but says witnessing events in real life at the top level would be a special way to cap off her senior year. She’s looking forward to touring Richmond with her teammates, and trying Chili’s.
Getting there would also mean a lot for Reynolds High School and the school district, Keang adds.
“This is a victory, not only for our team, but also for Reynolds in general,” she says. “Reynolds hasn’t gone to nationals for any other extracurricular. Putting Reynolds on the map is just really cool.”
