“Niles North was one of only five schools in the state of Illinois to qualify more than one team to elimination debates in the novice policy debate division,” head debate coach Katie Gjerpen said, at joining the ranks of longstanding programs at the Illinois Communication and Theatre Association State Debate Tournament on March 9-10.
The other four schools that qualified were Glenbrook North, New Trier, University of Chicago Laboratory and Homewood-Flossmoor.
Out of 46 teams, Niles North team of Ambria Benesch and Adam Yusen, freshmen, was seeded 7th and team of Luc Walkington and Leelabari Fulbel was seeded 12th. They also placed in the top 16 in the state for year of 2011-2012
In a field of 92, Benesch and Fulbel also placed in the top 10 individual speaker awards; Benesch won 3rd while Fulbel won 10th.
Such an achievement for Niles North is so great since only one other school won more than one individual speaker award in the state.
The Niles North Debate Team also brought home trophies — even from Harvard University — despite the fact that the Vikings are all first-year debaters competing against more seasoned debaters.
As fledgling debaters, the Vikings had the opportunity to compete in the junior varsity division at the Harvard University Tournament. Even though they were competing against second- and third-year debaters, “The team of Sam Eschker and D’Angelo Oberto finished with a record of 4-2 while the rest of the teams [Ambria Benesch and Adam Yusen, Zahra Domin and Josh Bynum, Luc Walkington and Leelabari Fulbel] all finished with 3-3 records,” Gjerpen said.
The Viking debaters were quarter-finalists at the Homewood-Flossmoor High School Tournament and cited as semifinalists and fourth-place speaker at the Evanston High School Tournament. The team garnered all these awards in just second semester. Additionally, the debaters won the championship at the University School Sunvitational Tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in January, Gjerpen said.
Now they are preparing for their next big competition, Novice National Debate Tournament in Atlanta, GA in two weeks where one two-student team will argue for this year’s topic while one team will argue against it. This year’s topic argues whether or not “the United States should increase its exploration and develop more study of space,” freshman Sam Eschker said.
In preparation for their upcoming competitions, the debaters have been helped by the coaching staff to research, create arguments and develop certain speaking skills. They have also been having practice debates everyday after school.
The team consists of 18 freshmen and meets Mondays and Wednesdays in room 2100 after school. Any student is welcome to join, with no past experience required. “During the meetings, we usually listen to lectures and have practice debates that are very beneficial,” Eschker said.
The Debate Team will end their season after six competitions. Their final tournaments will take place in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Dallas.
“The goal for next year is to continue on this trajectory of success and to recruit students that are interested in joining,” Gjerpen said. Some students will attend the three-week Michigan State Camp for Debate this summer to improve their debating skills for next year.
The Debate Team appreciates the level of support that has been provided to them and they are excited for the introduction of the debate class next year which will enable them to join other after school activities.
Mary • Mar 13, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Great to see an up and coming new team in the Chicago area! Niles North has had a great season and I can’t wait to see what’s next for the team in the coming years.