The debate team recently competed in the 40th Annual Harvard National Forensics Tournament, and after spending three days in Cambridge, the team returned with numerous awards and accolades.

“Students come from all over the nation to compete in the tournament,” debate coach Rhonda Smith said. “The kids did really well.”

Team members took part in several different events, each with around 300 other competitors.

“We competed in different events: public forum, Congress and extemporaneous speaking,” Vusirikala said.

Juniors Anthony Nguyen and Gregory Fantin and senior Joshua Graham advanced to quarterfinals in Congressional Debate, juniors Hasan Syed and Phoebe Lin placed in Extemporaneous Speaking, and three teams advanced to elimination rounds: seniors Samuel Wang and Vishal Vusirikala and juniors David Spector and Drew Poovey made it to the first elimination round, while seniors Edward Yu and Osmond Wen advanced even further to the second elimination round.

“We also had a lot of teams compete in public forum,” Vusirikala said. “There, we broke to the top 64 and top 32.”

The debate team spent countless hours getting ready for the competition.

“To prepare, we went over cases and arguments and talked about what responses could go with arguments other people might use,” Smith said. “We practiced a lot.”

The Harvard tournament offered other attractions besides the competitions.

“I like to see people from other cities,” Yu said. “You don’t usually get that kind of exposure to people from all over the country.”

In spite of the rigorous preparation process and long days at competition, success makes debate worth it.

“We had a lot of late nights, caffeine and last-minute preparation,” Vusirikala said. “There’s a lot of research involved, but it’s pretty satisfying to win.”