The Harker School has been recognized as one of the top 100 schools in the nation for speech and debate activities, according to the National Forensics League. Of the more than 3,000 qualified schools, Harker ranks 19th. That number is based on “student participation and achievement in speech and debate activities,” said the NFL. Carol Green, the communications studies department chair for grades 6-12, said, “This is a huge honor and shows the strength of Harker whose overall 9-12 population is much smaller than many of the top schools.”
Butch Keller, upper school head, presented an award to the department that was accepted by Jonathan Peele, the director of congressional debate and individual events, and Greg Achten, the upper school debate teacher.
The task of winning a single national championship in debate is demanding, but putting together victories in back-to-back years is particularly rare. Nonetheless, that’s exactly what the 23 middle school students who traveled to Dallas, Texas, last week for the 12th annual National Junior Forensic League National Championship Tournament managed to do. For the second year running, the team was recognized as one of the five Schools of Excellence across all of the debate formats offered at the tournament.
Pranav Reddy, grade 8, also extended a streak for the school by bringing home a national championship, this time in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Last year’s title came in Public Forum Debate, when two Harker pairs reached the final round and were declared co-champions. Reddy debated Resolved: When forced to choose, a just government ought to prioritize universal human rights over its national interest.
In Congressional Debate Aditya Dhar, grade 6, took third place honors nationally. When not busy winning the Lincoln-Douglas title, Reddy tackled the challenges of Congress as well, posting a fifth place result. Jai Ahuja, grade 8, and Misha Tseitlin, grade 6, joined their teammates in the Congress finals, placing them among the top 24 at the tournament.
The team of Azhar Huda and Vamsi Gadiraju, both grade 8, reached octafinals (top 16), while the team of Sophia Shatas, grade 8, and Sorjo Banerjee, grade 7, advanced to quarterfinals (top 8) of Public Forum Debate. Students participating in Public Forum considered the topic, Resolved: That the United States should intervene in another nation’s struggle for democracy.
Middle school director of forensics Karina Momary led her students to these accomplishments in her first year of coaching. “My strategy all year has been to have our middle school debaters compete against high school students, and I think that was a significant factor in our success this week,” explained Momary. The middle school team was also supported by the presence of Greg Achten, the upper school director of Policy Debate and Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and assistant coach Quinn Buniel.
This year marked the first time that the middle school NJFL National Tournament was held simultaneously with NFL Nationals for high schools. When not competing in their own rounds, all 23 middle school students had the valuable opportunity to learn by observing the high school debates.
Adding to the long list of recent speech and debate accomplishments, the Harker middle school debate team claimed the 2010 National Junior Forensic League championship in Public Forum Debate in late June in Des Moines, Iowa. Based on the school’s cumulative accomplishment across all debate events, coach Steve Clemmons took the stage to collect one of only five School of Excellence in Debate awards bestowed at the tournament. Students will be entering Gr. 9 in the fall unless otherwise noted.
In public forum, debaters evaluated whether current trends in political dialogue compromise meaningful democratic discourse. All three Harker teams advanced to competition in the elimination round bracket. While Stephanie Lu and Maneesha Panja fell in the Octafinal round on a 2-1 decision, Harker’s two other teams, Adarsh Battu and partner Arjun Kumar, along with Claudia Tischler and partner Shilpa Yarlagadda, reached the final round and were thus named co-champions. Tischler and Yarlagadda were also undefeated in preliminary competition.
In Lincoln-Douglas, debaters considered whether inclusion of non-felons in DNA databases is unjust. Travis Chen, advanced to semifinals before falling on a 2-1 decision to the eventual champion. Srikar Pyda and Brian Tuan also both made elimination round competition, falling in Octafinals. Rohith Bhethanabotla and Azhar Huda, Gr. 8 (in the fall) competed valiantly in Lincoln-Douglas debate as well, falling just short of reaching the elimination rounds.
Pulling double-duty at the tournament, Kumar complemented his Public Forum championship by reaching finals in Congressional Debate.
Congratulations also go to Mr. Steve Clemmons, Director of Middle School Forensics. Mr. Jonathan Peele, Director of Upper School Congressional Debate and Individual Events, traveled with the team and served as an assistant coach. Ms. Carol Green, Communication Studies Department Chair and Director of Upper School Public Forum, assisted by working with students to organize practices and enlisting the enthusiastic help of many upper school debaters to lend peer-coaching. The success of our middle school debaters at NJFL Nationals truly demonstrates the power of the unified Harker Forensics Team!
Harker debaters made the final round of the National Debate Coaches Association Championships the weekend of April 17-18 in Washington, D.C. Justine Liu, Gr. 11 and Akshay Jagadeesh, Gr. 10, lost in the final round in Public Forum Debate in a 2-1 decision. Ziad Jawadi, Gr. 11 and Aakash Jagadeesh, Gr. 10, were semifinalists.
The prior weekend, Harker debaters flew to New York to compete in the Westchester Classic tournament, where freshmen Anuj Sharma and Aneesh Chona won the final round of Varsity Public Forum Debate to earn the tournament title. Senior Kelsey Hilbrich and sophomore Frederic Enea lost in the quarterfinal round, and Hilbrich was named top speaker of the tournament.
For the first time in tournament history, a middle school team won the Novice High School Division at the Santa Clara University Invitational, a high school debate tournament held in mid-December. The winning Harker team consisted of eighth graders Rohith Bhethanabotla and Travis Chen. Because Harker is one of few middle schools with a debate team it is often difficult to find venues for competition. However, a small number of high school debate tournaments allow middle school teams to compete. Harker, the only middle school team in the tournament, sent 21 debaters and many of them came away with impressive achievements.
Other students who did especially well include Vikram Sundar, Kevin Duraiswamy and Jithin Vellian, all Gr. 8. Overall the team consists of primarily eighth graders but also includes some seventh and sixth graders. Their achievements are especially impressive because this tournament is attended by some of the best high school teams in the area.
Congratulations to Public Forum debaters Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 11 and Kaavya Gowda, Gr. 12, for their win at the National Tournament of Champions (TOC) held in May at the University of Kentucky. The TOC is considered to be one of the most prestigious tournaments in the nation. Students compete on the national circuit all year against some of the best teams in the country to earn qualifying legs to the TOC. For most students, just qualifying to the TOC is a high school dream. Once at the TOC, debaters are pitted against the best, since every team in the tournament had to make it to late eliminations at other elite national tournaments. This means that every preliminary round (there are seven) is essentially a semifinal or final round at a regular season tournament.
When the dust clears after seven preliminary rounds, the top 16 teams at the tournament are left to battle in the elimination rounds. Much like a sports tournament, the winning team in each debate advances except there is no best of three or five, it is a single elimination. Hilbrich and Gowda defeated a number of top-tier teams, round after round for three days straight. In their semifinal round, they defeated the National Debate Coaches Association champions, and in finals they went head to head with a team who had been in a number of national final rounds including the largest national high school invitation in the fall (the Glenbrooks).
The entire year for debate culminates in the three national championship title competitions, so this win was a perfect end to the school year. Carol Green, debate teacher and coach, was thrilled with the girls’ per formance and stressed the difficulty of this achievement. Green explained, “It is rare that a national championship in debate is brought to a high school considering the thousands of schools that compete for the oppor tunity each year. As a coach I can honestly say this may be one of the highlights of my career!”
Hilbrich and Gowda were presented with their trophies in late May, and they presented the school with a framed award to be displayed perpetually on campus. The girls were also featured on the front page of the National Forensics League Web site. Congratulations to both the coach and our national champions!
In other forensics news, the Harker policy team comprising juniors Arjun Mody and Adam Perelman had a good showing at the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament in Albany, N.Y. The boys went 3-2 in prelims and made it to double-octofinals (top 32) in Policy Debate. This is the first time a Harker policy team has made it to elimination rounds at Grand Nationals. Nice work!
Meanwhile, David Kastelman, Gr. 12, made it to the four th level of competition in the Lions Club Speakers Contest, an annual speech competition for high school students. The topic for this year’s contest was “Water: Will California Be Left High and Dry?” Kastelman was defeated at the four th level after defeating Jyoti Narayanswami, Gr. 11, at the third level, and Kevin Kim, Gr. 12, at the second level. Kim had previously defeated Akshay Aggarwal, Gr. 10, at the first level. “This is the first time multiple Harker students have competed against each other at the various levels and we look forward to continuing this success in future years,” said Green.