The Debate and Speech Teams’ regular seasons came to a close on Thursday, February 21 and Saturday, February 23, respectively. Harriton hosted the annual district tournaments, in which local schools sent their top speakers and debaters to compete for a spot at the state tournament.

The debate tournament lasted from 3:45 to around 9:00 PM on Thursday, and included two to four rounds of debate, depending on the event. The speech tournament was on Saturday, and lasted from around 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Within each event, the top two winners, district-wide, and a third team of alternates qualified to move on to the State tournament. Dr. Perry, the debate coach, remarks that, “I’m pleased to say that we placed first, second or third in each of the four debate events; a great accomplishment!”

Of the ten Harriton debate teams that competed, five qualified for states. The qualifiers include Jared Fenton and Rochitha Nathan, placing first and second in Lincoln-Douglas Debate; Camille Stein and Victoria Marks, placing second in Public Forum Debate; Lauren Mendelsohn, Emily Rush, and Laney O’Shea, placing third in Parliamentary Debate; and Eric Dannenbaum and Won Chung, placing third in Policy Debate.

As for speaking events, Tristan Fogt also placed first in Commentary, and Martha Wolnicki, Jessi Silverman, Stella Murray, and Alex O’Donnell qualified

The States Speech and Debate Tournament will be held on March 22-23 at Susquehanna University, in Selinsgrove, PA. Good luck to all participants!