Debate team places in multiple categories at weekend competition

A Redhawks student winning first place was fairly common on Saturday as the debate team competed at Princeton High School with students secured first place wins in Extemp, Lincoln Douglas, and Policy Debate, with many more placing in the top five as well.

For some, just the experience of being there was exciting.

"Competing was fun," first year debate student junior Addie O'Hara said. "There was a lot of waiting involved for Extemp, but once we got to it, it was pretty cool. Very thrilling and exciting."

This first competition of the year was a learning experience for new team members and helped students gauge where they have room to grow.

"I enjoyed getting to work on some practice speeches," sophomore Haley Buster said. "Definitely, I learned a lot too. My future goals are to find the areas where I wasn't performing well and fix them to exceed in the next competition."

When it came to the Policy Debate competition, which involves two debaters working on one case and competing together, the key ingredient for success was teamwork according to debate captain, junior Mahi Kosuri

"Nazim and Ahaan, our first year students who won a 1st place award, did an amazing job in class; they worked diligently to prepare their cases," Kosuri said. "They both work very well together and communicate with each other during class [as well as when they're debating]."

To Kosuri, reflection on the competition is important, as she hopes it will help her team set goals for the future.

"We hope to reflect on both the good and bad of this competition, especially on how we can improve and build a stronger case for future competitions," Kosuri said.