Fairmont High School’s Leon Yang is the most humorous high school speaker in the nation. According to the results of the 2026 National Speech And Debate competition held in Richmond, Virginia, at least.
Yang survived 13 rounds of competition from 270 other high school students from the United States to take home the top prize. This marks the first time ever a Fairmont High School student has won the top honor at this competition.
The Top Six Award winners in the category:
Leon Yang, Fairmont, MN
Will Whitlock, Choctaw, OK
Noah Martinez, Union City, CA
Solanite Katema. Rosemount, MN
Brady White, Portage, MI
Dylan Ngo, Fremont, CA
Also honored at the event was Fairmont High School’s Head Speech Coach, Kathleen Walker. Walker was presented with the National Coach Of The Year honors. Walker had previously been named the District and State Coach Of The Year. The award covers more than 4,000 Speech And Debate programs nationally. Walker was initially nominated for the honor by her husband, Assistant Coach Erik Walker.
Also attending the National Tournament on behalf of Fairmont High School were recent graduate Belinda Lutterman and soon-to-be senior Allie Streit. Lutterman placed in the Top 30 in US Extemporaneous Speaking and Streit participated in World Schools Debate.