The Niles North debate team competed at the Dowling Paradigm tournament in Des Moine Iowa on Dec 8- 10. The tournament was a huge success overall, and was easily one of the most enjoyable travels for the team. Not only were there a lot of wins, but also some birthday celebrations, and tons of team bonding. 

Junior teams CM(Kailey and Raman) and KS(Saad and Will) made Nile’s North history after ending the tournament as co-champions when they locked out the bracket in finals. Not only was the win impressive overall, but both teams beat some of the top teams to be able to claim that title. 

Kailey also manages to win second speaker, with Roman close behind taking third. 

“It was super cool to win Dowling, we beat some really tough teams and it’s the first time a Niles North team has won such a high level varsity tournament in at least five years, but I think it might be more than that,” junior Will Sterbenc said. 

However, our juniors weren’t the only ones making history. Our novice team MB(Sam and Naomi), went 5-0 making it all the way to semis, and both took home a speaker award recognition. Naomi came in at 10th speaker, and Sam came in at 7th. It took a lot of work for them, but they both ended the tournament on an amazing note. 

“Our quarter round was the first time that I really felt like I understood what was going on in the round. Even after doubting myself in all those rounds, the confidence I got from knowing that I’d actually done something right was more than with it,” freshman Sam McLaughlin said. 

“Dowling was an awesome experience. I loved to see our school succeed, I grew closer with the others, and learned so much more about debate ”freshman Naomi Brown said. 

On top of the amazing tournament that took place, we also celebrated two birthdays during the week. Kailey Cabrera’s was on Saturday, and the day after we celebrated our beloved debate coach, Ms. Velazquez on Sunday. 

Overall this tournament created some forever memories for everyone on the team. As the season and years continue we can’t wait to continue watching Niles North debate work hard and win.