Seven members of the Debate Team traveled to Richmond, VA this summer to compete in the National Speech and Debate Association national tournament. The NSDA tournament hosts over 7,000 of the most talented debaters from around the country from close to 1,500 schools nationwide and overseas.

Park Tudor debaters qualified for "Nats" last spring to represent Indiana's Hoosier Heartland District and to compete in debate rounds spread over four days. As a team, PT debaters took 20 ballots, with rising senior Evan Dahlie leading the way in the Extemporaneous Debate event by breaking into the single elimination rounds with a 4-1 record and making it to the second-to-last day of competition before being eliminated.

In his second trip to the National Tournament competing in Lincoln-Douglas debate - a style that embraces values and philosophy - rising junior Eli Fisch won 7 ballots and came within one of breaking into the LD elimination rounds. He argued both for and against whether democracies ought to prioritize the protection of civil liberties over national security. In their first year of competition, rising sophomores Sophia Xu & Emily Huang won 4 ballots in public forum debate arguing if the United States in justified in using force to remove authoritarian leaders from power. This is quite an accomplishment in their first National Tournament. In policy debate, veteran rising senior partners Qasid Mian & Junmo Kang took ballots in two rounds arguing for and against federal government policies related to development of the Arctic.

This year we were also proud to send two students to represent the Hoosier Heartland District in World Schools Debate: Evan Dahlie & Oliver Gollapudi. Evan & Oliver were invited by the District based on their Indiana debate experience to form a "dream team" with two other talented debaters from Westfield High School. They also nearly broke into the top in this fun event that simulates European-style parliamentary debate. The Debate Team is coached by Dr. Matthew McGrath. Congratulations PT debaters on your performance on the national stage!