Howard County Debaters are "The Great Debaters"
Howard High School Sweeps JV Tournament; Centennial Wins Big Regional Novice Tournament
Howard County, Maryland February 27, 2008 This past weekend at Lake Clifton High School in Baltimore City, Howard High School Debate team took the state by storm by winning the JV Policy Debate Tournament. With 40 teams from around the state, Howard High School's Catherine Thompson and Josh Manley went 3-0 and won first place. Jordan Fink teamed with Centennial's Michael Lo to place 2nd as a hybrid team. Catherine Thompson took home the honors as top individual speaker with Josh Manley winning 4th speaker and Howard's Emily Scheerer winning 5th Speaker.
Centennial's Varsity Policy Debate Team in only its second year of existence has already placed one team, Kevin Li and Sid Patel, into the regional finals with a possibility of having 3 teams in total in the regional finals on March 15th.
Lincoln Douglas Debate (one-on-one debate as opposed to policy debate which is two-on-two), an activity that has been historically dominated by Kelli Midgley-Biggs' Wilde Lake High School, continues to be a shining star for Howard County. Wilde Lake's Brady Daniller is currently ranked number 1 going into regional finals. Atholton's Nikhil Karnik, Centennial's Sasha Tereshchenko and several other Wilde Lake LD debaters are expected to make the final 16 for regionals on March 15.
Centennial Debaters win Regional Novice Debate Tournament
Centennial's Freshman Debate Team of Dan Li and Jonathan Kowarski just came off of a major victory for Howard County debate by placing first in novice in a regional debate tournament. The tournament took place at Pennsbury High School in Pennsylvania and it drew teams from Virginia, Pennsylania and Maryland.
"It is a real feat for our young policy debate teams to do so well in our tristate area after only starting up last year," says Ronald Bratt, Founder of Capitol Debate who does the training for policy debate teams in the county.
With the assistance of Capitol Debate, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting and sustaining educational debate programs nationwide and leadership from Zeleana Morris, English Coordinator, the Howard County Public Schools System has developed competitive debate programs in 4 additional high schools over the last 2 years which include Centennial, Reservoir, Glenelg and most recently Howard High School. Existing programs at Wilde Lake, Atholton and Long Reach continue to demonstrate prowess in both Speech and Debate events. With assistance also coming from Social Studies Coordinator Mark Stout, and Advanced Programs Coordinator Tom Payne, we hope to see competitive programs in every middle and high school in the county.
Capitol Debate has also worked with the school system this year to extend national travel opportunities to high school debate students. Capitol Debate sponsored 16 students going to debate tournaments in North Carolina, Chicago, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Atlanta this year. "We are excited to see the tremendous growth potential for debate in Howard County over the next several years," says Ronald Bratt.
Capitol Debate
Capitol Debate is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to promoting policy debate. Capitol Debate assists
schools in setting up teams, recruiting students and
coaches, fundraising and sustainability.
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Capitol Debate
RONALD BRATT
CEO
phone:
443 538 4992
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