(Photo Credit: Ohio High School Speech League)

Academy’s Debate Team ventured to Napoleon, Ohio, on Saturday, February 4, to compete at the Ohio High School Speech League District Tournament. Following the immense success its opening year in debate last season, with teams making it to states and even the national debate tournament, four teams competed for a spot at the state tournament. Caroline Anders’17 and Kyle Channell’19 fulfilled this goal after placing 8th out of 30 teams. This will be Anders’ second appearance at states, following her success last year with fellow senior, Parker Graham.

Academy was also represented by seniors Parker Graham and Rhea Rao, juniors Andy Zhang and Alyssa Kim, sophomore David Li, and freshman Alex Graham.

The tournament hosted competitions in Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas, and Policy. Nine speech events took place. Academy participated in Public Forum Debate, which involves a topic, more formally referred to as a “resolution,” related to foreign or domestic policy. The team’s angle of argument was “largely on the basis that lifting [the embargo] would funnel a large amount of money to the Castro regime,” according to Anders.

After a stress-filled day, the two were thrilled to discover that they had qualified, winning four out of their six debates, but remained realistic. “We’re excited to advance to states and see what we can do, but the competition in Public Forum is pretty big in Ohio,” Anders acknowledged.

Anders and Channel will compete on March 3 and 4 at Berea High School. The resolution will be: “Resolved: The United States should no longer pressure Israel to work toward a two-state solution.” Anders spoke of her excitement towards this topic, stating that “[this topic] is especially interesting now that Trump has met with Netanyahu.”