The HEHS Debate team recently won first place at their first debate tournament of the year. One member, Alleyah Genosa, earned fifth place out of 500 participants from over twenty five schools.
Most of the students didn’t expect to win first place across all twenty five schools, said Genosa.
Her teammate, Chase Amin agreed: “As soon as they announced third place and it was not us, everybody lost hope, but suspense kept going when they announced second place and it was just full out celebration and screaming and cheering and happiness because of the fact that we won.”
Genosa, a junior, not only placed fifth out of 500 kids competing at the meet, but also earned second place in her chamber, which is essentially a bracket system. Genosa says that her favorite experience with debate was during her freshman year, when she went to the IHSA state debate competition during her freshman year and made the semifinals.
Genosa’s favorite debate topics involve foreign affairs, as she “cant read a map but it’s really fun arguing about something I barely know anything about and it expands my perspectives.”
Essentially, the Debate team is an activity that meets after school on Mondays, preparing for a monthly debate tournament against some of the best debate teams in the state and country. Debate is essentially “researching and then giving speeches and then ultimately it’s trying to persuade people to vote on the topic in your favor. You also get scores from judges that tell you how well you do,” said Chase Amin, freshman.
Although Amin says that his least favorite thing about debate is the research aspect, he says that he loves that he gets to overcome problems with speaking through debate, as it allows participants to talk to people and persuade them to come to their side.
