GFS Debate Team Scores High at the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament

Over Presidents Day weekend, GFS seniors Andrew Li and Luke Zhong took second place out of thousands of students at the prestigious Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament.

They were among 15 GFS Debate Club students in eight teams: three varsity teams, one JV team and three novice teams. Two varsity teams and one novice team made it through the six preliminary rounds and qualified for the single elimination playoffs.

The debate centered around the question of whether the Federal Trade Commission should regulate the sports betting industry.

Li and Zhong, the two seniors who started the Debate Club three years ago, stormed through the preliminaries in the varsity division, entering the playoff rounds as the number-one seed among the 128 teams qualifying for the playoffs. Facing increasingly tough competition through the playoffs, the duo deployed persuasive argument and precise “crossfire” questions round-by-round to make it to the finals. In the final round, they battled a highly regarded team from Texas. 

After seeing the kind of intellectual community fostered by debate at a summer camp experience, Li and Zhong started the Debate Club at GFS. Through debate, they said, you learn more about the world while becoming a better advocate and public speaker. 

“You need to be strong-minded,” said Zhong. “Debating attracts a lot of opinionated people who are seeking the truth behind a topic.” 

Sophomore varsity debaters Sophia Xu and Juliet Park also had a strong performance during the preliminary rounds, going 5 and 1, and then won their first elimination round. Novice debaters Anthony Wailoo and Alfonso Quiroz, both ninth graders, also qualified for the playoffs.

Congratulations to all the students for their hard work and dedication to debate!