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A Coeducational, College Preparatory School for Ages 3 Through Grade 12

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Speech and Debate Team Raising the Bar
Katie Voss

 

The Speech & Debate Team at ESD has reached new heights in 2018. While only 2 months into the season, ESD has already produced two individual TFA state qualifiers: Nick Harapanahalli '20 and Zan Haq '20. Nick earned his state points in International Extemp, where students draw topics cut straight from the news and then speak on them for 7 minutes after a 30 minute prep period. Nick has placed in the top 4 at several tournaments so far including Plano, Clark, Grapevine and Newman Smith. Placing high at Grapevine also earned Nick his first TOC bid, making him halfway qualified for Nationals in Kentucky later in April.

Zan Haq has also raised the bar for ESD by becoming our first TFA state qualifier in Lincoln Douglas, an event where debaters affirm or negate a resolution and present a constructive and rebuttal to refute their opponent's argument. Zan has been able to advance to elimination rounds in all of his tournaments including Plano, Clark, Grapevine, Greenhill, Plano West and Newman Smith, where he took 1st overall. While debaters need to accumulate 12 points to qualify for states, Zan has racked up a total of 15 making him one of the most accomplished LD debaters in the DFW region.

LD teammate Jiaying Fu '21 has also been picking up state points by advancing to outrounds at Clark, Newman Smith, and Plano West. With several tournaments still on the schedule, Jiaying is looking to help the Eagles send at least 3 people to states for the first time ever.  

With the recent success, Speech & Debate has grown in size and had members compete in different divisions.  One division that has been growing steadily is Congressional Debate, where students present speeches on different pieces of legislation and question each other about their arguments and evidence. Led by Jose Portela III, ESD's Congress team is already up to 8 participants and looks to continue to grow in the near future.  

A big congratulations to these outstanding students on their achievements thus far!