Most would say so far so good. Others would say that there are needs for improvement. Fourth place may seem unfortunate, but in it’s true context, placing fourth place in a tournament of 50 competing schools still ensures that the EGHS debate team remain congressional warriors.
The team competed at the Stevenson tournament on Nov. 10. This time, the debate team did not win any team awards, nor did they meet their goal of placing third place or higher. However, teammates and coaches alike are, overall, still impressed with their performance.
“I think the team is doing great, and as for the freshman and the other novices, they’re doing great for the first few times.” sophomore novice Yasunari Sakuma said.
Though after receiving fourth place after receiving higher awards, such as first place at Hoffman and third place at Stevenson, there are some techniques that the coaches still feel the team needs to mend.
“We always have room to improve,” coach Matt Bohnenkamp said. “We can always clean up our speeches and our delivery.”
Even though it wasn’t quite a big game for the team as a whole, it was a winning victory for senior Gaby Vaca, a long time debater and first time winner of the best PO (presiding officer). Right after returning from her fall sport, Vaca was very excited to receive recognition.
“This is my first time [winning an award], and this is a goal I’ve been working for for the past year,” Vaca said.
New members are titled with individual awards, but the same people are always clearing the scoreboard. Captain senior Ronak Patel has again been titled as the first place speaker. Let’s just face it– this guy’s just really good at debating.
Overall, the debate team did well in their Stevenson tournament. Even though fourth place seems grim, the team decided that it wasn’t the end of the world, and that they would try again to win a higher place at the Hoffman tournament Dec. 15.
“I expect us to win a team award by everyone participating more and giving more speeches during the next tournaments so we can score more points,” debate captain senior Harry Patel said.
By: Morgan Loxely