By Cassidy Lee
Copy Editor
On Feb. 22, the Gabrielino High School Debate team took part in the National Qualifying Debate Tournament at San Marino High School.
Arcadia High School, Westridge High School, and La Salle College Preparatory also attended the tournament.
The Screamin Eagles had 11 students attending the tournament, with nine competing and two supporting their fellow Eagles.
The competitors arrived at SMHS at 7:00 a.m. as it began to rain. The first round started at 8:00 a.m. followed by the second and third rounds at 10:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Awards took place at 5:30.
The Screamin Eagles had one Policy debate team, one Lincoln-Douglas debate team, and three Public Forum teams.
Most of the competitors were eliminated after losing the second round.
However, this year, event leader Emily Haas, junior, and Sharon Liu, junior, qualified for Nationals in Policy debate. Being the first to champion in policy, which has not happened in the 25 years of Gabrielino history.
“I’m definitely going to be focusing on debate over speech,” stated Haas. “I’m excited because I’m going to get to learn more about an event I’m usually never in.”
Last year, the Debate team had no national qualifiers. However this year, Gabrielino will be represented at the National Tournament in policy debate by Haas and Liu.
“I want to be able to contribute to people’s knowledge about what’s going on in the world,” stated Liu. “It gives me an opportunity to represent other Asian-American females who are interested in debate and politics.”
The Screamin Eagles Debate Team has had a successful season so far, with students breaking into finals at almost every tournament.
“We have some really strong underclassmen, so next year we’re going to start going to farther and harder invitationals,” explained Haas. “This is a push to keep us going and keep debate alive.”
The team is comprised of mostly juniors and sophomores due to the lack of seniors joining in their previous years.. The team also experienced a decrease in members over the past few years, however, new leadership encouraged members to join.
“We have another opportunity to expand Gabrielinos legacy,” stated Liu.
