parsons high school is also well-noted for its excellence in debate and forensics, having won several individual and team state championships in both debate and forensics. parsons was the first school to win the 4-speaker and 2-speaker state debate championships in the same year, doing so in 1993, the first year that the 2-speaker championships existed. in 1990, phs became the only school ever to place two students (ajit pai and michael monninger) in the top four national forensic league (nfl) point leaders in the same year. for several years, phs also led the nation in most nfl all-americans produced, and had more students amongst the all-time nfl point leaders than any other school from kansas. between 1985 and 2019 parsons has been represented at the national speech and debate tournament 31 out of those 34 years, and was recognized as a 30-year milestone school at the 2018 tournament. in 2012, steven wood, the former debate and forensics coach at parsons high school was inducted into the national forensic league hall of fame, which is the highest honor for a high school speech and debate coach.