Schools
Harrison High School Debate Team Off to A Stellar Start This Season
Two HHS Debaters Earn Partial Bids for National Tournament of Champions
The Harrison High School Debate team is off to an excellent start with strong showings at the Greenhill School’s national championship tournament in Texas and at the Yale University Championship event on September 19, 2014. Two of Harrison’s debaters, senior Amy Geller and junior Kathryn Kenny, received their first bid or half of the qualifications toward the national Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious debate event in the country. This event was won last year by Harrison High School’s own Danny DeBois.
Greenhill featured 104 Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debaters from around the country. The tournament only allows a maximum of three entries preschool and all competitors were top-level national circuit talent. Senior Amy Geller reached the octofinal (top 16), receiving her first bid to the TOC.
“She defeated several of the most accomplished debaters in the country and received perfect speaker points in her final preliminary round,” said HHS Debate Team advisor Chetan Hertzig. “Amy’s achievement is the first of many to come this year!”
Find out what's happening in Harrisonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Also competing at Greenhill were Harrison High School juniors Sarah Ryan, who had an excellent 4-2 record in preliminary rounds and narrowly missed reaching elimination rounds based on speaker points, and junior Elyssa Alfieri, who had a highly respectable 3-3 record against stiff competition.
Junior Kathryn Kenny reached the quarterfinal (top 8) at the Yale University tournament and secured her first bid to the TOC. Among the 164 varsity debaters, junior Ella Eisinger reached the octofinal (top 16) after winning her triple and double octofinals rounds.
Find out what's happening in Harrisonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In the JV division that contained 100 debaters from across the country, sophomore Sammi O’Reilly reached the semifinal (top 4) and was named the JV tournament’s top speaker. Sophomores Madeline Rawson and Adam Eljamal, along with Amr El-Azizi, reached the double-octofinal (top 32) round and Adam was named the tournament’s 4th speaker. Junior Evan Burger and sophomores Matt Zinman, Raffi Piliero, and Jack Wilson also had respectable showings in this difficult field.
