The varsity debate team reached new heights, placing first during the Maine East Regatta in Park Ridge Feb. 9-11.
The winning duo, senior captains Mahi Shah and Cyrus Ezmailzadeh, have practiced throughout the year through simulated debates and practice speeches, helping the novice team practice, and ensuring that the team was able to go into the tournament confident and leave victorious.
“I am happy with the victory at Maine East,” Mahi said. “We were confident going in because we’ve had a lot of practice, and we know how to work together.”
It wasn’t just the varsity team that saw success at Maine East. According to Mahi there are a lot of novice teams who are competing this year, including novice pair Austin Lok and Ashton Seiler, who were able to make it to the semifinals.
“I am really happy with the novices’ growth!” Mahi said. “They have put in a lot of effort and really want to get better at the activity. They listen to Cyrus and I and really care about learning.”
Both divisions excelled in their respective tournaments, with Mahi and Cyrus achieving first and fourth best speaker respectively in the varsity division, and Austin and Ashton receiving first and second best speaker in the novice division.
While according to Mahi tournament this was a relatively noncompetitive tournament, the debate team is looking forward to the upcoming state tournament the weekend of March 1 and national tournaments on the weekends of April 13 and 20.
“I’m nervous for the upcoming tournaments. High stakes since it’s our senior year,” Mahi said, “but I’m also very excited.”
