Inforum

Shanley brothers take home high forensics honors
It’s likely most people aren’t too familiar with the Puntland region in Somalia or the status of the Russian economy.

By: Kelly Smith, INFORUM

But two local teens could tell you all about both – and many more topics – thanks to their success and passion for debate and speech that recently made them among the nation’s best.

Last month, Shanley High School’s Mason and Teagan Lende took home two of the top honors at the National Forensics League’s national tournament.

“If you don’t take it seriously, you don’t have much of a chance,” said Teagan, 15. “I enjoy it greatly. It teaches you to take a different perspective.”

His older brother, Mason, said he had the highest number of earned points of anyone in the nation going into this year’s national tournament. And in the end, the 17-year-old won second place out of 483 students in the nation – the highest finish ever, he said, for a North Dakota student.

In the same category, extemporaneous commentary, his younger brother took home fifth place.

Six of their Shanley peers also competed at the tournament – the highest number of students to qualify from a North Dakota school for this year’s tournament, they say.

It’s a lot of achievement in an activity Mason calls a high school hobby.

“Just competing in itself was a crash course,” said the recent Shanley High graduate.

The teens plan to use the public speaking and researching skills later in their careers – Mason with bioengineering and Teagan with politics or law.

Teagan, a sophomore this fall, aims to surpass Mason next year by bringing home the No. 1 spot.

“Mason is his goal,” said their mom, Nancy. “He sets the standards, and he sets them pretty high.”

It’s friendly competition that has only propelled the brothers higher.

“They’ve always been supportive of each other,” she said. “I’ve learned unbelievable amounts of information from them.”