Kent Denver's Programs Grow with the Return of In-Person Competitions

Robotics Caps Off Another Year at Worlds

Kent Denver’s widely recognized Robotics Program had a strong year throughout the 2021-22 school year. With a total of 6 robots in play this season, a big part of the Sun Devils Robotics was their two teams entirely consisting of seniors, Team 3946A and 3946E. 

It was another incredible year for the Kent Denver Robotics program at VEX Robotics State Championship in Colorado Springs, as both Team 3946A and E both earned the title of State Champion! It was the school’s third state title in the last four years. 

The Sun Devils returned to the VEX Robotics Worlds Championship, held this year in Dallas, Texas. Both Sun Devil teams—Team A and Team E—made it into their 16-alliance divisional playoffs. Although neither team advanced further than their first divisional game, Team 3946A did go on to win the “Create Award” which is granted "to a team with a creative engineering solution." 

“As coaches, we're so incredibly proud of all of our teams this season, and we’re so excited to see how far our students (graduating or not) will continue to go!” stated Alainey Hellman. “With many of us now looking towards next year's season, we hope to continue building upon the foundations of this club with an even stronger student mentorship program, lots of new student leaders, and many more future success stories. Please look out for our teams in next year's game: Spin Up!”
 

Speech & Debate Qualifies Nationally

This year, a huge group of incoming students to Kent Denver’s Speech and Debate team brought tremendous energy and excitement. This season also had the return of some in-person competition and the opportunity to compete at Kent Denver as a team. 

Over Spring Break, the Kent Denver Speech and Debate team competed in the State Tournament and the National Qualifying Tournament. At State, the team received numerous awards with a couple underclassmen placing in the Extemporaneous Speaking and Humorous Interpretation categories, while two seniors finished 3rd in Policy Debate. At the National Qualifying Tournament, two underclassmen finished as finalists in Policy Debate and one of the seniors won the Informative Speaking Division and qualified for nationals as the first place entry!

Capping of their high school career, two seniors went on to compete virtually at the Tournament of Champions at the end of the 2021-22 school year. The Tournament of Champions is the most prestigious Policy Debate tournament in the country where only the best teams are invited to compete. You have to be invited by receiving "bids" to qualify at major tournaments throughout the season. Getting invited itself is a huge honor and denotes a team as one of the very best. 
 

SUNMUN Returns to In-Person Competitions

Kent Denver’s Model United Nations team (SUNMUN) had a strong season during the 2021-22 school year, with the excitement and anticipation of the return to in-person competitions.

One of the highlights of the season was the team's successful trip to New York City for the Global Citizens Model United Nations Conference. While representing different nations and debating with teams from around the world on a variety of important global issues, Kent Denver was recognized as one of the Best Large Delegations at the conference! Additionally, eight KDS students received honorable mention recognition. 
 
“Looking back, it’s been a great year, though COVID posed some continuing challenges,” SUNMUN Director Lucas Carmichael said. “We were able to compete in four in-person local competitions, two online competitions and one national competition in New York City.”

SUNMUN is looking forward to hosting a conference on campus next year and the resumption of even more local, national and international in-person events.