Freshman Ashley Greene won a second place Speaker Award at the NLCC debate tournament. While the team overall placed second.

At the Illinois Congressional Debate Association Tournament, sophomore Abby Hsiao won a Best Presiding Officer Award.

Debate is led by coach Dustin Zubert and team captain Diana Vazquez. They usually have about a month to prepare for each debate, and they meet once a week after school to practice.

“We are sent a packet of 12 bills after every debate tournament, and at the following meeting, we decide who will be doing research on what bill,” Vazquez said.

Debate has two different rosters, one for JV and one for varsity, but the matches give the same questions to debate.

“We get a packet, and we will spend every day at practice like any other sports team practicing the argument on both sides of the topic,” Zubert said

“There are two different states, one for the local schools that our team usually attends.Then if they are good enough and place high enough, they will be invited to the more statewide state championship,” Zubert said.

The road to state is different from most sports, because there usually is just one state for the whole sport not two, as in debate.

“My goal is to improve not only my research skills and my public speaking skills, but to improve my leadership skills as well. That is also my goal for everyone else on the team. To me, it is not really about winning or losing, but rather that everyone on the team improves on the skills mentioned,” Vazquez said.