Debate Team Wins National Championships

Ron Lubarsky '14 and Tim Perevozchikov '14 were first place in Public Forum out of 568 competitors, earning a $10,000 scholarship from the Arthur Rupe Foundation. Will Mascaro '14 placed first in Senate. Aric Floyd '14 placed second out of 435 in Impromptu.

In other competition, Aric Floyd was in the top 40 out of 234 competitors in Lincoln Douglas Debate; Phillip Hedayatnia '16 was a semi-finalist in Congressional Debate; and Zach Kirsch '14 and Sid Ahuja '14 were in the top 25 teams in Public Forum.

Also at the tournament, Upper School Science Teacher Bob Shurtz received his third Diamond Coaching Award, a well-deserved recognition.

The National Speech & Debate Tournament marks the capstone of high school speech and debate activities for nearly 130,000 students around the country. To attend, students must place among the top competitors at one of 110 District Tournaments. Qualifiers compete for more than $200,000 in college scholarships in a variety of speech, debate, and performance events. Final rounds are judged by blue ribbon panels including CEOs, former Cabinet members, stage and screen celebrities, sponsors, and acclaimed community members.

The debate team's performance at Nationals was an amazing finale to the best season of speech and debate in Hawken history.