County High School Debate Team Wins National Title

From Prince George’s County Public Schools:

In its third season, the Eleanor Roosevelt High School debate team surprised attendees as they defeated over 122 teams to win the championship title at the National Liberty Bell Classic Debate Tournament hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.

Debating the topic “Economic Globalization Benefits Worldwide Poverty Reduction,” varsity debaters Vinai Rachakonda and Donovan Harvey, both juniors, won four out of six preliminary tournaments, which qualified them for eliminations, where they won all six debates.

“Winning the pre-tournament debates was beyond exciting,” said Rachakonda. “We were exhausted, but incredibly happy to make the finals and then, ultimately win.”

During the three-day tournament, Rachakonda and Harvey spent about 35 hours presenting arguments for both sides of their topic. Student judges selected the winning arguments from extensive research, evidence preparation and the development of case studies.

The recent win earned them one of the two bids needed to qualify for the prestigious Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky in April. There are strong expectations that they will be invited to compete. Rachakonda and Harvey, who both began debating as seventh-graders at Kenmoor Elementary School, are also now ranked in the top 50 public forum debate teams in the country, with the debate team ranked 8th in the state.

The success of these debaters and the entire Eleanor Roosevelt High School debate team didn’t come without challenges.

“At the national level, students of color are under-represented in debate and often times, the competitions are generally dominated by schools that have much bigger teams, much longer and stronger debate traditions and adequate funding,” explained Darrell Harvey, Parent Volunteer Coach. “Our debate team has persevered and we could not be more proud of how hard they work and compete, and more importantly, the professional and committed manner in which they represent the school and county.”

The debate team consists of about 20 students, and they all have competed in at least one debate tournament this season. The teams compete in novice, junior varsity, and varsity categories and are coached by Harvey and school sponsor and coach Jennifer Matson.

Locally, they’ve participated in debates organized by the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensic League, the DC Urban Debate League, and Prince George’s County Debate League. The team has also qualified to participate in two national championship debate tournaments, the National Catholic Forensic League Championship and the National Speech and Debate Association’s National Championship.