At the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition (IISPSC) in Toronto Oct. 23-26, Stoneleigh-Burnham School placed first among U.S. schools, and Claire Lane ’16 earned a spot at the world championship. Lane was the top speaker in Dramatic Interpretation. Lane will join Clara Swartzentruber ’16 at the World Debating and Public Speaking Championship in March 2016. Swartzentruber qualified to be on the U.S. team by taking first place at a competition at SBS on Oct. 4.

This is the first time in SBS’s 150-year history that the school has had two speakers earning seats on the U.S. team at Worlds. This is also the second time Lane has made the U.S. team. Last year, she traveled to Hong Kong to compete in the world championships.

SBS was represented at the IISPSC by Lane, Swartzenruber, and Charlotte Minsky ’16, who was a finalist in Dramatic Interpretation. Dr. Paul Bassett, head coach of the SBS Debate and Public Speaking Society, said that while SBS’s competitors have done well at this competition over the years, the last time SBS earned Top U.S. Team was in 1993.

SBS joined 151 speakers from 51 schools around the world at the Toronto competition. Other U.S. schools that competed were Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Deerfield Academy, The Hotchkiss School, Kingswood-Oxford School, Roxbury Latin School, and The Winsor School.

Since 1869, SBS has been preparing girls in grades 7-12 for college and the world. It is an academic community with an international perspective that inspires girls to pursue meaningful lives based on honor, respect and intellectual curiosity. It is the first and only girls’ school in New England to offer the International Baccalaureate Program. The academically rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum equips our students with exemplary critical thinking skills, and opens doors for them at universities both in the U.S and abroad. For more information: sbschool.org