Here on the Hill, the Irish are known for taking home State Championship Titles in Football, Basketball, Wrestling and more. But this past weekend, a different title was won: a State Championship in World Schools Debate. In an astonishing 5 to 0 vote, the team of Seniors Johnny Beauchamp, Julia Hurley, and George Madden defeated the team from Penn High School. Hurley, who was part of a WSD team that placed second at the 2023 National Speech and Debate Tournament, recounted, “It was a very shocking moment.” After two days and many rounds of competing at Kokomo High School, the WSD team came out on top for the first time since 2020, and the school placed 7th overall in the team sweepstakes.
In a WSD competition, two teams of three to five people debate political and social topics. However, only three team members can speak each round while the other two sit out. Hurley explained, “We write each side of the resolution because you don’t know which side you’re going to give. The first speaker from each team will go through the first two arguments, the second speaker will go over the third argument and do some rebuttal and the third speaker will give a completely impromptu rebuttal.”
While the other team speaks, Beauchamp, who usually speaks second or third, is constantly framing a rebuttal. He said, “The main mindset I have is taking the primary weakness that the other team has and making sure we hit those. The main thing we do is built on accentuating why the other team’s argument falls flat.” At the State Tournament, debate resolutions ranged from the morality of Machiavellian philosophy, to the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, to foreign peacekeeping missions and everything in between.
Their success at the two-day tournament was especially impressive because they won as a team of three while the vast majority of teams were four or five. “Since we were a team of three, none of us got a break at all. It was talking every single round. In the impromptu rounds where you write your case on the spot, to only have three people is a disadvantage,” Hurley said. However, she said that her experience at the National tournament prepared her for the impromptu rounds.
The final round, which took place in a packed lecture hall, was especially exhilarating. Speech and Debate Head Coach Mrs. Jeanne Malone said, “It was probably one of the best World Schools rounds that a Cathedral team had ever put together—I was thrilled.” In the five to zero vote in favor of the Irish, the judges affirmed Malone’s belief, and Hurley, discussing the vote, remarked, “It’s so extreme. I didn’t think it would happen for anybody, but for it to happen to us—it just felt really gratifying.”
Madden added, “When I had heard that we won, I felt both relieved and excited. Being on stage in front of hundreds of people, I had to contain my reaction and not scream out, ‘Yes!’.”
Malone, who has now led an Indiana WSD team to the final stage of the National Tournament and won a State Title in the event in less than one year, said she feels “humbled,” and that “It’s a privilege to coach.”
The Speech and Debate Team now turns its focus to National Qualifiers on March 3 and the State Speech Tournament on March 10.
