The debate team went to three different Texas Forensic Association (TFA) tournaments in Richardson, Guyer and Coppell won an array of awards this past January. Matthew Babaylan, Alec Antonakakis and Grace Yochem were competitors in these tournaments.

Each of these competitors had years of experience ranging from two to four years and had different reasons for joining debate.

“I was originally interested in politics,” said Antonakakis.  “So having that prior knowledge and applying it to debate, then learning what debate was about helped.”

Yochem’s mother was a big influence on why she joined debate.

“My mother was in a heckling debate team,” said Yochem ”My mother recommended me and said, ‘go do that your going to be good,’”

Each one also has their own way for preparing for a tournament.

“I feel like what I always do is I go into this zone, I guess, where I’m ready to compete,” said Babalayan. “Because in an essence, debate is so I have to get a competitive mood.”

On the other hand, Yochem mainly tried to keep her confidence up before competing.

“The main goal of debate for me Is try and have some semblance of confidence,” said Yochem “Because I think debate helps with confidence issues and that way, you can put yourself in a mine set of ‘yay. I know this I can do this.’”

All three competitors agreed on what they thought of competing in these tournaments and that debate has been the highlight of their high school career.

“I would say it was just normal,” said Babaylan. “It wasn’t one of the better ones. Usually they come up in mid-season or at the end of the season. Because I’ve prepared the most for those.”

Antonakakis said he agrees with Babaylan.

“I would say it was about averages,” said Antonakakis. “Not my best, because the season is winding down for us. Granted I won and got to the semifinals on two of three but because the season winding the caring and effort has gone down a bit.”