Three top LT debaters advance in Tournament of Champions

The Lyons Township High School Congressional Debate Team finished its latest tournament by taking an impressive 22 students to the Hoffman Estates High School Tournament of Champions, showcasing the best debaters of the Illinois Congressional Debate Association (ICDA)season.

Senior Aidan Joyce, of LaGrange, and senior Adrian Walker, of LaGrange Park, qualified for the elite level of the tournament by ranking among the top 50 students of more than 1,000 competitors from more than 20 high schools over the season in ICDA.

Joyce made it all the way to a final Tournament of Champions chamber proving to be one of the top 10 debaters in the state of Illinois.

Walker took home a second-place trophy in an elite Tournament of Champions chamber, while sophomore Ben Dreves Hunt, of LaGrange, brought home a second-place chamber award.

Students involved in Congressional Debate follow the procedures of the senators and representatives in Washington D.C. They write legislation, work in committees, and debate their own bills and resolutions. Speeches are judged, points are accumulated, and both individual and team trophies are awarded by point totals and student voting.

The team is sponsored by teachers Tom Swiontek, Maria Ricker and Joan Cushing.