Local Students Perform Well in Recent National Debate Tournaments

Ivy Bridge Academy debaters recently had some big opportunities to compete on the national stage. Over the summer, the IBA debate program went to Salt Lake City from June 14-17,2016 to compete at the Middle School National Championship against 125 teams from across the nation. They built upon their previous successes with 4 teams making the elimination rounds and 2 of those teams placing in the top 10. Henry Xuan and Siddhi Chitgopkar placed 9th and Elly Kang and Aanan Biswas were awarded 10th place overall.

Additionally, 7 IBA students placed in the top 50 individual speakers with Victor Valbuena being awarded 3rd place overall and Chris Bodea awarded 2nd place overall out of the 250 debaters competing.

2016 Salt Lake City, Utah National Tournament

9th place - Henry Xuan and Siddhi Chitgopkar
10th place - Elly Kang and Aanan Biswas
17th place - Chris Bodea and Brian Shon
18th place - Victor Valbuena and Ryan Moon
40th place - Sri Pinnamareddy and Sharnitha Sudhaher
44th place - Omer Mujawar and Kyuhong Kim
58th place - Linjay Zeng and Jonas Du
75th place - Aaron Sinclair and Sanjh Mahatme
81st place - Naeun Kim and Jaeyun Lee
82nd place - Charles Kim and Jason Park
99th place - Matthew Kim and Kevin Li
101st place - Ryan An and Samuel Choi

Nationals Individual Speaker Awards
2nd place - Christopher Bodea 8th (AMMS)
3rd place - Victor Valbuena 8th (WBMS)
17th place - Ryan Moon 7th (TRMS)
26th place - Siddhi Chitgopkar 7th (VCMS)
28th place - Aanan Biswas 6th (AMMS)
29th place - Brian Shon 7th (WBMS)
35th place - Henry Xuan 8th (RWMS)

More recently, the IBA debate program traveled to Georgetown University over the weekend of October 8-9, 2016 for a major national debate competition. They had 4 teams competing in the Middle School division, all of which ultimately placed in the top half of teams, with 2 qualifying for the elimination rounds. The team of Sanjh Mahatme and Aaron Sinclair was awarded 9th place overall, and the team of Elly Kang and Ryan Moon made it to the final 4 before finishing in 3rd place out of 37 total teams. IBA debaters also excelled in the individual awards with Sanjh Mahatme in 10th place overall, Omer Mujawar in 6th, Aanan Biswas in 5th, Siddhi Chitgopkar in 2nd, and Brian Shon as the number one individual speaker at the tournament out of the 74 total students competing. In addition, the High School team of Joshua Lee and Sudhan Chitgopkar competed in the Junior Varsity division and made it all the way to finals, winning 7 debates in 2 days, and ultimately finishing in 2nd place overall. Sudhan was also awarded the 5th place individual speaker.
The IBA coaches and staff are extremely proud of all of their students as they all work together to help the team accomplish such amazing results. Each competition has given the debaters a chance to continue to learn, improve, work together, and demonstrate their accomplishments on a national level. It also doesn't hurt that the trips have been a lot of fun as well. Congratulations!

High School JV Public Forum Results

2nd Place Team Joshua Lee ( Peechtree Ridge HS 10th) and Sudhan Chitgopkar 10th (South Forsyth HS 10th)

Individual Awards

5th Place - Sudhan Chitgopkar ( South Forsyth HS 10th)

Middle School Pubic Forum Results Team Awards

3rd-Elly Kang ( Dickerson MS 6th) and Ryan Moon (Taylor Road MS 8th)

9th-Sanjh Mahatme (River Trail MS 6th) and Aaron Sinclair (Notre Dame Academy 6th)

13th place team - Brian Shon (Webb Bridge 8th) and Siddhi Chitgopkar (Vickery Creek 8th)

14th place team - Omer Mujawar (Autrey Mill 7th) and Aanan Biswas (Autrey Mill 7th)

Individual Awards

1st- Brian Shon (Webb Bridge MS 8th)

2nd-Siddhi Chitgopkar (Vickery Creek MS 8th)

5th-Aanan Biswas (Autrey Mill MS 7th)

6th-Omer Mujawar (Autrey Mill MS 7th)

10th-Sanjh Mahatme (River trail MS 6th)