The debate team finished its season with two winter tournaments with multiple teams breaking past preliminaries into octofinals. 

At the Illinois Debate Coaches Association Novice JV Championship March 8-10 in Park Ridge, freshman Aaron Kim and sophomore Jada Nix earned a 7-3 record and advanced into octofinals. Freshmen Brandon Bousquette and Berk Oto earned a 4-6 record and freshman Penelope Huang and sophomore Alexandra Nehme earned a 3-7 record. 

At the the 45th Harvard National Forensics Tournament Feb. 16- 18 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sophomores Jada Nix and Roma Bhattacharjee, freshmen Jack Hurst and Aaron Kim, and seniors Jasmine Wang and Soundjata Sharod all earned 4-3 records. Jasmine and Soundjata ended their season finishing 32nd place and almost earned a bid at octofinals. 

“We didn’t do as well as we would’ve liked, but we are ultimately happy with how it went, and it was a bittersweet way to close the season,” Jasmine wrote in a text message. 

Novices Jada and Roma earned 27th place and also advanced into octofinals. In addition, Jada earned 6th best speaker and Roma earned 15th best speaker.