Sophomore Avi Gulati achieved one of his dreams at the Cal High School Speech and Debate Tournament, held Feb. 17-19, by taking first place in original oratory. Not only does this performance make Galati a contender for the national championship, but he also got to speak to a huge audience on a stage that has featured many speech and debate legends. The whole team is very proud of this accomplishment. Huge congrats to Avi!
Aditya Dhar ’17 was awarded a final accolade for his high school speech and debate efforts by the Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership. He was named to the 2017 National Student Congress as a member of the senate, based on his performance at the National Speech & Debate Association’s National Tournament in Birmingham, Ala., in June. Dhar was also the Senate Leadership Bowl Winner. Read more about Harker’s results in Birmingham.
Both the upper and middle school speech and debate teams did incredibly well recently at one of the three major national speech and debate tournaments. The National Speech & Debate Association Tournament was held in Birmingham, Ala., June 18-23. Thousands of students compete at the massive event.
Four upper school students qualified to attend the tournament, and each had impressive results. Aditya Dhar ’17 took home top honors in congressional debate with the senate leadership bowl and a second-place-finish overall. The leadership bowl award is voted on by the debaters, and congressional debate coach Marjorie Hazeltine noted that the whole team was thrilled for Dhar, especially because he has been an incredible team leader and role model throughout his time at the upper school.
Jenny Achten, Harker’s speech and debate department chair, noted Dhar “was seen as a great competitor and also a fair and encouraging presence in the community. It really speaks to how highly he was held as a role model in the Congressional Debate community and within our team.”
Nikhil Dharmaraj, rising junior, made it to the quarterfinals of original oratory with his speech on the importance of quality over quantity. Dharmaraj also made it to the top 20 in impromptu speaking. Avi Gulati, rising sophomore, was close to making it to elimination rounds in oratory and also placed in the top third in impromptu. Rounding out the upper school contingent was Jason Huang, rising junior, who earned a winning record in the relatively new event of world schools debate.
The middle school team also did extremely well in its division, with 157 middle schools from 33 states represented. Harker won the School of Excellence Debate Award, given to the school with the strongest overall record in the debate events across the entire field. Coach Chris Thiele was honored to accept the award on behalf of the whole team.
The duo of Andy Lee and Jason Lin, both rising freshmen, won first place in policy debate on a 5-0 decision, as they successfully argued that the United States ought to increase its diplomatic engagement with the People’s Republic of China, particularly in the area of joint space exploration. Deven Shah, rising eighth grader, and Akshay Manglik, rising freshman, made it to the semifinals of policy debate. In Lincoln-Douglas debate, Rishi Jain, rising eighth grader, was in the semifinals and Akhilesh Chegu, also a rising eighth grader, was in the octofinals.
Harker’s grade 7 public forum teams also had impressive finishes, debating humanitarian assistance and antiterrorism efforts in East Africa. Anshul Reddy and Ayan Nath were semifinalists, Alina Yuan and Amiee Wang made it to octofinals, and Arnav Jain and Harsh Deep, along with Yejin Song and Alysa Su, were double octofinalists. All are rising eighth graders.
Arusha Patil, rising freshman, was a semifinalist in both original oratory and storytelling. Rhea Nanavati, rising fresman, was a quarterfinalist in dramatic interpretation of literature.
The coaches are very proud of all of the students’ accomplishments and send a special thanks to Class of 2017 graduates Sana Aladin, Molly Wancewicz and Anika Jain for joining the coaching staff for this exciting event.
Harker’s speech and debate team has had a great run at this spring’s championship tournaments. Harker students, including some middle schoolers, have placed at championships in all five events: Lincoln-Douglas, policy, congressional and public forum debate, as well as individual speech events.
Our younger debaters had a great showing at the Western JV and Novice National Championship, held at San Francisco State University in March. Jai Bahri, grade 9, and Deven Shah, grade 7, were semifinalists in JV policy.
In JV Lincoln-Douglas, Kelly Shen, grade 10, also made it to semifinals. Joining her were Sachin Shah, grade 9, in quarterfinals, and Annie Ma, grade 9, and Alycia Cary, grade 10, in octofinals. In JV public forum, the duo of Kashov Sharma, grade 9, and Raymond Banke, grade 10, made it to the octofinals, as did partners Aimee Wang and Sascha Pakravan, both grade 7. Elen Guo and Phil Han, both grade 9, made it to octofinals in novice public forum.
Harker also had an outstanding showing in speaker awards at the championship. The first place speaker in JV Lincoln-Douglas debate was Sachin Shah. Also placing in JV Lincoln-Douglas were Shen in sixth place, Ma in 12th place, Cary in 13th place and Arely Sun, grade 7, in 20th place.
In JV policy, Deven Shah took second place, and his partner, Bahri took 10th. In JV public forum, Datha Arramreddy, grade 9, took sixth, Banke was ninth, Amanda Cheung, grade 9, was 13th and Wang was 15th. In novice public forum, Guo took sixth.
The season continued with the National Debate Coaches Association Championship. That event was held at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, in April. Srivatsav Pyda, grade 12, made it to quarterfinals in Lincoln-Douglas, while Serena Lu, grade 11, and Emmie Malyugina, grade 12, were octofinalists. Also representing Harker at the tournament were the policy duo of Molly Wancewicz, grade 12, and Anusha Kuppahally, grade 11. In Lincoln-Douglas, Sachin Shah, Quentin Clark, grade 9, Lauren Fu, grade 9, and Ma also contributed to the strong team performance. Malyugina was also the 10th speaker.
Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 10, qualified to compete at the state championship in original oratory and advanced to the semifinals. The tournament was held at Arcadia High School at the end of April.
Rounding out the spring series was the Tournament of Championships, held the last weekend of April at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. This is one of the most difficult tournaments to qualify for and Harker is extremely proud of Pyda and Malyugina for representing us in Lincoln-Douglas. Avi Gulati, grade 9, and Jason Huang, grade 10, also qualified in congressional debate. Pyda ended his season with a quarterfinal finish at the event.
Looking ahead, we will be excited to cheer for Aditya Dhar, grade 12, as he performs at the World Schools Debate Championships in Bali, Indonesia, in August. He was one of only five American students chosen to compete at this elite event. At the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in May, Nikki Solanki, grade 9, will compete in dramatic interpretation, and Gulati and Dharmaraj will compete in original oratory. Also, in June, the National Speech & Debate Association Championship will be hosted in Birmingham, Ala., and Harker will be represented by Huang in World Schools Debate, and Galati and Dharmaraj in original oratory. We are excited to report further as these events take place.
Big news in the speech and debate world: Harker debaters compete in a very tough district and, although only three students qualify per event to attend the national tournament each June, this year two of those students are from Harker! In original oratory, a 10-minute original persuasive speech, Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 10, took first and Avi Gulati, grade 9, took second. Dharmaraj also took first at the state qualifying tournament and will be representing Harker at the state tournament in April. Meanwhile, freshman Nikki Solanki also did very well, advancing to semifinals in dramatic interpretation and fifth in program oral interpretation, making her the second alternate for the national competition in that event. Congrats to these students for this major accomplishment – especially as underclassmen!
Senior Srivatsav Pyda was named the champion of the Voices Foundation Lincoln Douglas Debate Invitational & Round Robin, held at Presentation High this past weekend. He was the top speaker, the top seed and his record was undefeated. After winning six preliminary and five elimination rounds, he was named the tournament champion out of 150 students. Schools from across the country, including from as far away as New Jersey, competed at this event. Congrats, Srivatsav!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
By Greg Achten and Jenny Alme
Harker’s speech and debate team finished the 2015-16 season strong, with many students earning national honors and awards. The end-of-the-year championship tournaments were a capstone to another great season in which Harker students competed against the best and brightest students nationwide. The success of our students at those tournaments is a testament to their hard work and all that they have learned this year.
Upper School Team Success
Harker’s upper school speech and debate team attended several end-of-year championship tournaments. Qualifying for these tournaments was a great honor, resulting from top performances throughout the year. Twelve Harker students competed at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championship in Orlando, Fla. At the tournament, Raymond Xu and Srivatsav Pyda, both juniors, advanced to the elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Xu lost in the first elimination and finished 17th in the nation, while Pyda reached the quarterfinals and finished fifth in the nation. Several Harker debate students also qualified to the Tournament of Champions, held in Lexington, Ky. Pyda was joined by teammates Aditya Dhar, grade 11, and Michael Tseitlin, grade 11, as well as Alexander Lam, grade 11, in congressional debate; Joyce Huang, grade 11, Emily Chen, grade 10, and Jimmy Lin, grade 10, in international public forum debate; and Emaad Raghib, grade 11, and Suraj Jagadeesh, grade 12, in public forum. At the tournament, Lam and Huang entered the elimination rounds as the top overall seed. They were joined in the elimination rounds by Chen and Lin.
Both teams reached the octofinal round of the tournament, finishing in the top 20 in the nation. In congressional debate, both Dhar and Tseitlin advanced to the semifinals. Dhar also qualified for the National Catholic Forensics League National Tournament in Sacramento, where he reached the final round of the tournament and finished fifth overall in the nation. In speech competitions, three Harker students qualified for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Denver. Sana Aladin and Divya Rajasekharan, both grade 11, qualified to the tournament in duo interpretation of literature, and Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 9, qualified in original oratory. Dharmaraj advanced to the final round of the tournament and finished fourth overall out of more than 140 students! Dharmaraj is the first Harker student to reach the final round of this prestigious tournament. He also qualified to the National Speech & Debate Association’s National Tournament in Salt Lake City, which will take place in mid-June.
Young Debaters Winning Big
One of the bright spots of the season was the success of grade 9 students throughout the year and especially at the end-of-the-year tournaments. Students from Harker’s team earned top honors at several late-season tournaments designed for students in their first or second year of competition.
The St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas holds a championship tournament in May for grade 9 and younger debaters. At that tournament Anusha Kuppahally, grade 9, and Maddie Huynh, grade 8, reached the semifinals and finished third overall. Both Kuppahally and Huynh also won individual speaker awards. At the Western JV & Novice National Championship at San Francisco State University, three Harker students were crowned national champions in their respective events. In second year public forum, Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang, both grade 9, lost only one ballot on their way to winning the tournament. In novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Kelly Shen, grade 9, also won the final round of her division and was named a national champion.
Many other Harker students also won awards at the Western tournament. In policy debate, Esha Deokar, grade 9, and Deven Shah, grade 6, reached the semifinals of the novice division and finished third in the nation. Meghna Phalke and Alycia Cary, both grade 9, reached the octofinal round of novice policy, finishing ninth in the nation.
Kuppahally and Jacob Ohana, grade 10, finished ninth in the second year policy debate division. In novice public forum, Raymond Banke, grade 9, Floyd Gordon, grade 10, Aimee Wang, grade 6, and Alina Yuan, grade 6, finished in the top 20 in the nation, while Sascha Pakravan, grade 6, and Anshul Reddy, grade 6, were in the quarterfinals of the tournament and finished fifth overall. In second year public forum, Betsy Tian, grade 7, and Shomrick Mondal, grade 8, finished the tournament in the top 10 in the country.
In novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Karoun Kaushik, grade 6, and Aditya Tadimeti, grade 7, reached elimination rounds and finished in the top 20 overall. Also in novice Lincoln-Douglas, Rishi Jain, grade 6, reached the quarterfinals. In second year Lincoln-Douglas, Cat Zhao, grade 8, Avi Gulati, grade 8, Satvik Narasimhan, grade 9, Nishant Ravi, grade 9, and Suraj Pakala, grade 9, all reached the elimination rounds and finished in the top 20. Annie Ma, grade 8, and Neha Tallapragada, grade 9, both reached the quarterfinals and finished in the top eight in nation. Given the success of these young students, the future of the program is indeed very bright.
Middle School Team Success Harker’s middle school team recently attended the California Middle School State tournament at Skyline High School in Oakland, and many of our students won awards! In impromptu speaking Bryan Wang, grade 8, reached the finals and was crowned state champion. Avi Gulati also reached the finals of impromptu. In storytelling Gulati, Katelyn Chen, grade 8, Arusha Patil, grade 7, and Rhea Nanavati, grade 7, all were finalists.
In prose Nikki Solanki, grade 8, was a finalist. In oratory Gulati and Patil were finalists. In duo interpretation of literature, Chen and Wang were finalists. In dramatic interpretation Solanki was a finalist. In public forum debate the teams of Amanda Cheung, grade 8, and Jason Pan, grade 8, as well as Krishay Mukhija, grade 7, and Anshul Reddy were quarterfinalists.
Also in public forum, the team of Kenneth Liou, grade 8, and Jeremy Ding, grade 8, as well as Zain Awais, grade 7, and Chandan Aggarwal, grade 8, reached the octofinals and finished in the top 20, while the team of Datha Arramreddy, grade 8, and Vibha Arramreddy, grade 8, were double octofinalists. In Lincoln-Douglas Annie Ma and Cat Zhao reached the quarterfinals. Aditya Tadimeti was an octofinalist.
The following students reached the double octofinals in Lincoln Douglas: Sachin Shah, grade 8, Aditi Vinod, grade 7, Akhilesh Chegu, grade 6, and Montek Kalsi, grade 8. In congressional debate Nakul Bajaj, grade 8, and Andrew Sun, grade 7, were finalists.
The middle school team also attended the Glendale Middle School Championships. In policy debate Andy Lee and Jason Lin, both grade 7, were the tournament champions. The teams of Quentin Clark, grade 8, and Shah, as well as Jai Bahri, grade 8, and Deven Parikh, grade 7, were semifinalists.
In Lincoln-Douglas debate, the team swept the tournament, claiming all of the top seven spots with the following students being named co-champions: Shah, Akshay Manglik, grade 7, Tadimeti, Kalsi, Ma, Chegu and Zhao. In public forum Reddy and Mukhija were octofinalists and the teams of Liou and Ding as well as Cheung and Pan reached the quarterfinals.
In congressional debate Sun, Bajaj, and Reiya Das, grade 8, all finished in the top eight at the tournament.
The following students reached the final round of speech competition: Aaditya Gulati, grade 6; Shyl Lamba, grade 8; Annamma Vazhaeparambil, grade 7; Wang and Chen. Patil won the oratory competition while Avi Gulati finished first overall in impromptu speaking and storytelling and Solanki was named tournament champion in both prose and dramatic interpretation.
Karina Momary, head coach of the Harker middle school team, credits the success of the program to the work of the students. “This group of students has certainly worked hard individually, but more importantly has worked collectively as a team to support each other. Our success this year is a direct result of our students working with and for each other,” she said. The middle school team next heads to the National Junior Forensics League National Championship Tournament in Salt Lake City in mid-June.
Welcoming a New Coach
In fall, Marjorie Hazeltine will transition from the middle school to the upper school to become the head coach of the Harker speech and congressional debate teams. Hazeltine had previously worked with the Harker middle school team, in addition to teaching English classes. She joins returning upper school coaches Jenny Alme and Greg Achten. Department chair Alme noted, “The upper school students and coaches are thrilled to have Ms. Hazeltine join us. She is very talented and has a great track record of success as a coach.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
By Greg Achten and Jenny Alme
Harker’s speech and debate team finished the 2015-16 season strong, with many students earning national honors and awards. The end-of-the-year championship tournaments were a capstone to another great season in which Harker students competed against the best and brightest students nationwide. The success of our students at those tournaments is a testament to their hard work and all that they have learned this year.
Upper School Team Success
Harker’s upper school speech and debate team attended several end-of-year championship tournaments. Qualifying for these tournaments was a great honor, resulting from top performances throughout the year. Twelve Harker students competed at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championship in Orlando, Fla. At the tournament, Raymond Xu and Srivatsav Pyda, both juniors, advanced to the elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Xu lost in the first elimination and finished 17th in the nation, while Pyda reached the quarterfinals and finished fifth in the nation. Several Harker debate students also qualified to the Tournament of Champions, held in Lexington, Ky. Pyda was joined by teammates Aditya Dhar, grade 11, and Michael Tseitlin, grade 11, as well as Alexander Lam, grade 11, in congressional debate; Joyce Huang, grade 11, Emily Chen, grade 10, and Jimmy Lin, grade 10, in international public forum debate; and Emaad Raghib, grade 11, and Suraj Jagadeesh, grade 12, in public forum. At the tournament, Lam and Huang entered the elimination rounds as the top overall seed. They were joined in the elimination rounds by Chen and Lin.
Both teams reached the octofinal round of the tournament, finishing in the top 20 in the nation. In congressional debate, both Dhar and Tseitlin advanced to the semifinals. Dhar also qualified for the National Catholic Forensics League National Tournament in Sacramento, where he reached the final round of the tournament and finished fifth overall in the nation. In speech competitions, three Harker students qualified for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Denver. Sana Aladin and Divya Rajasekharan, both grade 11, qualified to the tournament in duo interpretation of literature, and Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 9, qualified in original oratory. Dharmaraj advanced to the final round of the tournament and finished fourth overall out of more than 140 students! Dharmaraj is the first Harker student to reach the final round of this prestigious tournament. He also qualified to the National Speech & Debate Association’s National Tournament in Salt Lake City, which will take place in mid-June.
Young Debaters Winning Big
One of the bright spots of the season was the success of grade 9 students throughout the year and especially at the end-of-the-year tournaments. Students from Harker’s team earned top honors at several late-season tournaments designed for students in their first or second year of competition.
The St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas holds a championship tournament in May for grade 9 and younger debaters. At that tournament Anusha Kuppahally, grade 9, and Maddie Huynh, grade 8, reached the semifinals and finished third overall. Both Kuppahally and Huynh also won individual speaker awards. At the Western JV & Novice National Championship at San Francisco State University, three Harker students were crowned national champions in their respective events. In second year public forum, Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang, both grade 9, lost only one ballot on their way to winning the tournament. In novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Kelly Shen, grade 9, also won the final round of her division and was named a national champion.
Many other Harker students also won awards at the Western tournament. In policy debate, Esha Deokar, grade 9, and Deven Shah, grade 6, reached the semifinals of the novice division and finished third in the nation. Meghna Phalke and Alycia Cary, both grade 9, reached the octofinal round of novice policy, finishing ninth in the nation.
Kuppahally and Jacob Ohana, grade 10, finished ninth in the second year policy debate division. In novice public forum, Raymond Banke, grade 9, Floyd Gordon, grade 10, Aimee Wang, grade 6, and Alina Yuan, grade 6, finished in the top 20 in the nation, while Sascha Pakravan, grade 6, and Anshul Reddy, grade 6, were in the quarterfinals of the tournament and finished fifth overall. In second year public forum, Betsy Tian, grade 7, and Shomrick Mondal, grade 8, finished the tournament in the top 10 in the country.
In novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Karoun Kaushik, grade 6, and Aditya Tadimeti, grade 7, reached elimination rounds and finished in the top 20 overall. Also in novice Lincoln-Douglas, Rishi Jain, grade 6, reached the quarterfinals. In second year Lincoln-Douglas, Cat Zhao, grade 8, Avi Gulati, grade 8, Satvik Narasimhan, grade 9, Nishant Ravi, grade 9, and Suraj Pakala, grade 9, all reached the elimination rounds and finished in the top 20. Annie Ma, grade 8, and Neha Tallapragada, grade 9, both reached the quarterfinals and finished in the top eight in nation. Given the success of these young students, the future of the program is indeed very bright.
Middle School Team Success Harker’s middle school team recently attended the California Middle School State tournament at Skyline High School in Oakland, and many of our students won awards! In impromptu speaking Bryan Wang, grade 8, reached the finals and was crowned state champion. Avi Gulati also reached the finals of impromptu. In storytelling Gulati, Katelyn Chen, grade 8, Arusha Patil, grade 7, and Rhea Nanavati, grade 7, all were finalists.
In prose Nikki Solanki, grade 8, was a finalist. In oratory Gulati and Patil were finalists. In duo interpretation of literature, Chen and Wang were finalists. In dramatic interpretation Solanki was a finalist. In public forum debate the teams of Amanda Cheung, grade 8, and Jason Pan, grade 8, as well as Krishay Mukhija, grade 7, and Anshul Reddy were quarterfinalists.
Also in public forum, the team of Kenneth Liou, grade 8, and Jeremy Ding, grade 8, as well as Zain Awais, grade 7, and Chandan Aggarwal, grade 8, reached the octofinals and finished in the top 20, while the team of Datha Arramreddy, grade 8, and Vibha Arramreddy, grade 8, were double octofinalists. In Lincoln-Douglas Annie Ma and Cat Zhao reached the quarterfinals. Aditya Tadimeti was an octofinalist.
The following students reached the double octofinals in Lincoln Douglas: Sachin Shah, grade 8, Aditi Vinod, grade 7, Akhilesh Chegu, grade 6, and Montek Kalsi, grade 8. In congressional debate Nakul Bajaj, grade 8, and Andrew Sun, grade 7, were finalists.
The middle school team also attended the Glendale Middle School Championships. In policy debate Andy Lee and Jason Lin, both grade 7, were the tournament champions. The teams of Quentin Clark, grade 8, and Shah, as well as Jai Bahri, grade 8, and Deven Parikh, grade 7, were semifinalists.
In Lincoln-Douglas debate, the team swept the tournament, claiming all of the top seven spots with the following students being named co-champions: Shah, Akshay Manglik, grade 7, Tadimeti, Kalsi, Ma, Chegu and Zhao. In public forum Reddy and Mukhija were octofinalists and the teams of Liou and Ding as well as Cheung and Pan reached the quarterfinals.
In congressional debate Sun, Bajaj, and Reiya Das, grade 8, all finished in the top eight at the tournament.
The following students reached the final round of speech competition: Aaditya Gulati, grade 6; Shyl Lamba, grade 8; Annamma Vazhaeparambil, grade 7; Wang and Chen. Patil won the oratory competition while Avi Gulati finished first overall in impromptu speaking and storytelling and Solanki was named tournament champion in both prose and dramatic interpretation.
Karina Momary, head coach of the Harker middle school team, credits the success of the program to the work of the students. “This group of students has certainly worked hard individually, but more importantly has worked collectively as a team to support each other. Our success this year is a direct result of our students working with and for each other,” she said. The middle school team next heads to the National Junior Forensics League National Championship Tournament in Salt Lake City in mid-June.
Welcoming a New Coach
In fall, Marjorie Hazeltine will transition from the middle school to the upper school to become the head coach of the Harker speech and congressional debate teams. Hazeltine had previously worked with the Harker middle school team, in addition to teaching English classes. She joins returning upper school coaches Jenny Alme and Greg Achten. Department chair Alme noted, “The upper school students and coaches are thrilled to have Ms. Hazeltine join us. She is very talented and has a great track record of success as a coach.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
By Greg Achten and Jenny Alme
Harker’s speech and debate team finished the 2015-16 season strong, with many students earning national honors and awards. The end-of-the-year championship tournaments were a capstone to another great season in which Harker students competed against the best and brightest students nationwide. The success of our students at those tournaments is a testament to their hard work and all that they have learned this year.
Upper School Team Success
Harker’s upper school speech and debate team attended several end-of-year championship tournaments. Qualifying for these tournaments was a great honor, resulting from top performances throughout the year. Twelve Harker students competed at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championship in Orlando, Fla. At the tournament, Raymond Xu and Srivatsav Pyda, both juniors, advanced to the elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Xu lost in the first elimination and finished 17th in the nation, while Pyda reached the quarterfinals and finished fifth in the nation. Several Harker debate students also qualified to the Tournament of Champions, held in Lexington, Ky. Pyda was joined by teammates Aditya Dhar, grade 11, and Michael Tseitlin, grade 11, as well as Alexander Lam, grade 11, in congressional debate; Joyce Huang, grade 11, Emily Chen, grade 10, and Jimmy Lin, grade 10, in international public forum debate; and Emaad Raghib, grade 11, and Suraj Jagadeesh, grade 12, in public forum. At the tournament, Lam and Huang entered the elimination rounds as the top overall seed. They were joined in the elimination rounds by Chen and Lin.
Both teams reached the octofinal round of the tournament, finishing in the top 20 in the nation. In congressional debate, both Dhar and Tseitlin advanced to the semifinals. Dhar also qualified for the National Catholic Forensics League National Tournament in Sacramento, where he reached the final round of the tournament and finished fifth overall in the nation. In speech competitions, three Harker students qualified for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Denver. Sana Aladin and Divya Rajasekharan, both grade 11, qualified to the tournament in duo interpretation of literature, and Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 9, qualified in original oratory. Dharmaraj advanced to the final round of the tournament and finished fourth overall out of more than 140 students! Dharmaraj is the first Harker student to reach the final round of this prestigious tournament. He also qualified to the National Speech & Debate Association’s National Tournament in Salt Lake City, which will take place in mid-June.
Young Debaters Winning Big
One of the bright spots of the season was the success of grade 9 students throughout the year and especially at the end-of-the-year tournaments. Students from Harker’s team earned top honors at several late-season tournaments designed for students in their first or second year of competition.
The St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas holds a championship tournament in May for grade 9 and younger debaters. At that tournament Anusha Kuppahally, grade 9, and Maddie Huynh, grade 8, reached the semifinals and finished third overall. Both Kuppahally and Huynh also won individual speaker awards. At the Western JV & Novice National Championship at San Francisco State University, three Harker students were crowned national champions in their respective events. In second year public forum, Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang, both grade 9, lost only one ballot on their way to winning the tournament. In novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Kelly Shen, grade 9, also won the final round of her division and was named a national champion.
Many other Harker students also won awards at the Western tournament. In policy debate, Esha Deokar, grade 9, and Deven Shah, grade 6, reached the semifinals of the novice division and finished third in the nation. Meghna Phalke and Alycia Cary, both grade 9, reached the octofinal round of novice policy, finishing ninth in the nation.
Kuppahally and Jacob Ohana, grade 10, finished ninth in the second year policy debate division. In novice public forum, Raymond Banke, grade 9, Floyd Gordon, grade 10, Aimee Wang, grade 6, and Alina Yuan, grade 6, finished in the top 20 in the nation, while Sascha Pakravan, grade 6, and Anshul Reddy, grade 6, were in the quarterfinals of the tournament and finished fifth overall. In second year public forum, Betsy Tian, grade 7, and Shomrick Mondal, grade 8, finished the tournament in the top 10 in the country.
In novice Lincoln-Douglas debate, Karoun Kaushik, grade 6, and Aditya Tadimeti, grade 7, reached elimination rounds and finished in the top 20 overall. Also in novice Lincoln-Douglas, Rishi Jain, grade 6, reached the quarterfinals. In second year Lincoln-Douglas, Cat Zhao, grade 8, Avi Gulati, grade 8, Satvik Narasimhan, grade 9, Nishant Ravi, grade 9, and Suraj Pakala, grade 9, all reached the elimination rounds and finished in the top 20. Annie Ma, grade 8, and Neha Tallapragada, grade 9, both reached the quarterfinals and finished in the top eight in nation. Given the success of these young students, the future of the program is indeed very bright.
Middle School Team Success Harker’s middle school team recently attended the California Middle School State tournament at Skyline High School in Oakland, and many of our students won awards! In impromptu speaking Bryan Wang, grade 8, reached the finals and was crowned state champion. Avi Gulati also reached the finals of impromptu. In storytelling Gulati, Katelyn Chen, grade 8, Arusha Patil, grade 7, and Rhea Nanavati, grade 7, all were finalists.
In prose Nikki Solanki, grade 8, was a finalist. In oratory Gulati and Patil were finalists. In duo interpretation of literature, Chen and Wang were finalists. In dramatic interpretation Solanki was a finalist. In public forum debate the teams of Amanda Cheung, grade 8, and Jason Pan, grade 8, as well as Krishay Mukhija, grade 7, and Anshul Reddy were quarterfinalists.
Also in public forum, the team of Kenneth Liou, grade 8, and Jeremy Ding, grade 8, as well as Zain Awais, grade 7, and Chandan Aggarwal, grade 8, reached the octofinals and finished in the top 20, while the team of Datha Arramreddy, grade 8, and Vibha Arramreddy, grade 8, were double octofinalists. In Lincoln-Douglas Annie Ma and Cat Zhao reached the quarterfinals. Aditya Tadimeti was an octofinalist.
The following students reached the double octofinals in Lincoln Douglas: Sachin Shah, grade 8, Aditi Vinod, grade 7, Akhilesh Chegu, grade 6, and Montek Kalsi, grade 8. In congressional debate Nakul Bajaj, grade 8, and Andrew Sun, grade 7, were finalists.
The middle school team also attended the Glendale Middle School Championships. In policy debate Andy Lee and Jason Lin, both grade 7, were the tournament champions. The teams of Quentin Clark, grade 8, and Shah, as well as Jai Bahri, grade 8, and Deven Parikh, grade 7, were semifinalists.
In Lincoln-Douglas debate, the team swept the tournament, claiming all of the top seven spots with the following students being named co-champions: Shah, Akshay Manglik, grade 7, Tadimeti, Kalsi, Ma, Chegu and Zhao. In public forum Reddy and Mukhija were octofinalists and the teams of Liou and Ding as well as Cheung and Pan reached the quarterfinals.
In congressional debate Sun, Bajaj, and Reiya Das, grade 8, all finished in the top eight at the tournament.
The following students reached the final round of speech competition: Aaditya Gulati, grade 6; Shyl Lamba, grade 8; Annamma Vazhaeparambil, grade 7; Wang and Chen. Patil won the oratory competition while Avi Gulati finished first overall in impromptu speaking and storytelling and Solanki was named tournament champion in both prose and dramatic interpretation.
Karina Momary, head coach of the Harker middle school team, credits the success of the program to the work of the students. “This group of students has certainly worked hard individually, but more importantly has worked collectively as a team to support each other. Our success this year is a direct result of our students working with and for each other,” she said. The middle school team next heads to the National Junior Forensics League National Championship Tournament in Salt Lake City in mid-June.
Welcoming a New Coach
In fall, Marjorie Hazeltine will transition from the middle school to the upper school to become the head coach of the Harker speech and congressional debate teams. Hazeltine had previously worked with the Harker middle school team, in addition to teaching English classes. She joins returning upper school coaches Jenny Alme and Greg Achten. Department chair Alme noted, “The upper school students and coaches are thrilled to have Ms. Hazeltine join us. She is very talented and has a great track record of success as a coach.”
Harker senior Aditya Dhar was named to Debate Team USA! He is one of only nine students selected nationwide to represent the U.S. in World Schools Debate. The team, selected from applications submitted to the National Speech & Debate Association, will compete in a series of global debate competitions with teams from six continents, and will finish up at the World Championship in August.
The application process began in May and took several months, said Cindi Timmons, team manager and coach. The selection process was rigorous. “From hundreds of applicants that began with an online application, a series of essays, a teacher and administrator recommendation, and a video speech, we moved to a semifinal round that involved another video of a debate speech and then to the final 20 that participated in an online interview process with a nationwide panel,” she noted.
The team has an extensive travel schedule, including trips to the EurOpen in Hamburg, Germany, the PanAm Tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and domestic trips. The year will culminate at the World Championship in Bali, Indonesia, in August. Go Aditya!