Moorestown Middle School Student Earns High Honors In National Debate Competition

MOORESTOWN, NJ — An eighth grader at William Allen Middle School in Moorestown finished sixth at the Congressional Debate National Competition held at Birmingham, Alabama last week. Vinay Panayanchery was among the students from more than 150 schools nationwide that competed in the event, organized by National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), from June 20-23.

In Congressional Debate, students emulate representatives and senators of the U.S. congress by debating bills and resolutions. A few weeks before the competition, the list of bills or legislations are published by NSDA.
Panayanchery and the other competitors researched as many topics as possible, with the goal of being able to speak on any of legislations. The topic of legislations varies from immigration, economy, domestic and foreign policies, etc.

There were around 40 legislations for this year’s competition split across preliminary, semi-final and finals. Topics included North Korean sanctions, U.S. Infrastructure, Physician Assisted Suicide, Russia Sanctions, Minimum wage, Consumer Data Security, Private Prisons, Mandatory Minimum Sentence etc.

The final legislations are those that are currently being debated 115th Congress including The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, The Email Privacy Act of 2017, etc.

Panayanchery had participated in several other competitions in the past including 2016 Nationals at at Salt Lake City, Harvard National forensic tournaments, regional tournaments etc. He gave a big thanks to not only the middle school principal, Matthew Keith, but also the Board of Education, for helping him go to the debate competition.

The attached image of Vinay Panayanchery was provided