Dragon Debate Team Breaks District Records

The 2015-2016 school year has been one of tremendous growth for the Dragon Debate Team, with over 100 students either enrolled in classes or actively competing. Dragon Debate has traveled all around the country participating in competitions and continuing to break district records.

Most recently, the Dragon Debate Team traveled to Harvard University for the Harvard Debate Tournament in February. They were awarded 3rd Place Sweepstakes in Congressional Debate, where junior Emma Lin advanced to Finals and placed 6th overall among 413 total competitors. Junior Sunny Daggubati advanced to the Semifinals, and 6 of the 10 Congressional Debate students for Carroll advanced to the Quarterfinals. Dragon Debate had more than 20 freshman and sophomores in attendance, of which four teams or students in Public Forum Debate or Lincoln-Douglas Debate advanced beyond the preliminary rounds. Nearly 100% of all the teams in competition had a winning record throughout the tournament.

Carroll’s Dragon Debate team accomplished another first in school history, qualifying its first ever debate team (in Public Forum Debate) to the annual Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky. Juniors Jackie Prokopeas and Alex Federick completed an unheard of run earning their two necessary “bids” to the TOC by advancing to the Semifinals at the University of Pennsylvania one week, and the next week placed second overall the the annual Milo Cup in Nebraska. The team of Juniors Sam Bonham and Austin Meek will also be applying for an at-large spot at the TOC. They earned their first “bid” at Emory University in Atlanta earlier this year. Both teams will be attending the prestigious King Round Robin in Houston this April, an annual tournament that only invites sixteen of the most qualified  teams nationwide.

Traditionally Carroll has only qualified to the TOC in Congressional Debate, and this year Dragon Debate will be sending the most students in school history in that event, with four students fully qualified and two others awaiting an at-large application, for a potential of six altogether. Sahaj Singh, the nation’s only freshman to qualify outright to the TOC, will join juniors Emma Lin and Sunny Daggubati, and senior Mafaaz Tanzeem. Juniors Priyanka Reddy and Sowmiya Baskar are awaiting notice of their at-large application, due in March.

Upcoming tournaments for the Dragon Debate team include TFA and UIL State Tournaments in March, national tournaments in Orlando, Sacramento and Lexington in April and May, and more District and Nationals qualifiers in April. The team is led by Coach David Brown, a teacher in his first year at Carroll High School.