What is your name and grade? Raman Mazhankou, Junior.
What made you join debate? What made you stay? I guess what made me join debate was my friend Saad Khan. He saw an ad for it and made me and our friends come along, we weren’t sure we were gonna stay, but after learning more about the people and competitive aspect here, it really convinced me to stay. I also enjoy the educational part of it too, there’s a different topic each year; during my sophomore year the topic was water and I never knew out of anything water could be so interesting to debate about.
What has been your favorite memory from debate? My favorite memory was probably last year, the end of sophomore year when we won the JV state tournament where three Niles North teams went to semi-finals; then won finals which was really cool since everyone worked hard for it throughout the year and we got to compete against some other local teams who were really good.
What do you think about when you’re at a debate tournament? Well, it kinda depends because when you’re in a round it’s really hard to think about something else because you’re so focused on what’s going on in-round and even when you’re on a break it’s like you have to plan for the next one and honestly the breaks aren’t very long either, so at a tournament you just end up always thinking about debate.
What is your motto in life? I’m not sure I really have an overarching motto. I think it’s more important to live life in the moment and make decisions based on your specific needs there. A motto could trap you into decisions you don’t want to make.
What is your favorite movie? I guess I would say my favorite movie is Interstellar. I watched it for the first time with my friends, and I greatly enjoyed almost everything about it. The score, the plot, I would recommend it to everyone.
What is your music taste? I listen to some of everything, but mostly Hip-Hop and rap. My favorite artist or-I guess duos of all time is Kids See Ghosts, their self-titled album is a classic.
What are your favorite arguments to run? I’d say my favorite arguments are those that discuss various political bills and policy proposals that happen at the highest levels of government. These often reward you for how knowledgeable you are about what’s happening in Washington, from the Supreme Court to Congress, which is beneficial knowledge to have I think.
What other clubs are you involved in? My main focus is debate but I’m in a couple other clubs like ACES or Academic Bowl. Shout out to the science club being worked on by Dev Shah.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years, I see myself hopefully relatively successful at a stable job. Of course, much in my life can change, but I think an overall targeted goal to achieving financial stability is a good mindset for making decisions.
