West’s debate team has won many awards over the years and most recently, the Plano West International Public Policy Forum was selected as one of the top 64 teams in the nation. West’s team will compete against teams from other countries including Lithuania, Korea, Switzerland and Columbia.

“The competition is tough, seeing as high school debate teams from around the world compete, so it’s a real honor to be part of the team in a time of such success,” senior Hannamae Greenfield said.

Along with Greenfield, the other members of the team will be Samuel Wang, Vishal Vursirikala, Matthew Feng, Mason Sheu, Drew Poovey, Osmond Wen, Edward Yu and Catherine Zhang.

“Our team dynamic has been the best I’ve experienced in the years I’ve been debating and I believe that much of the team’s success this year has been attributable to that,” Greenfield said.

Winning awards and recognition does not come easily, however. Debate students have to put in a lot of time and effort in order to be successful.

“We practice three days a week after school in addition to practicing in class,” debate teacher Rhonda Smith said. “It comes out to 15 or 20 hours a week.”

In addition to the long hours spent practicing each week, debate students also have to spend time researching and keeping up with current events.

“I’d say the biggest challenge is that it can be really time-consuming to stay current on all the events that are happening in the world,” debate teacher Kattie Foster said. “It can be a lot for the students to try to keep up with everything that’s going on all the time.”

Another obstacle facing the debate team is with funding.

“It’s always hard to come by money,” Smith said. “But I have really good parents and they are willing to fund a good part of what we do.”

Despite the challenges that they face, the team gains a lot of experiences from debate.

“The students improve skills that are not only valuable for winning debate meets, but also really valuable for them when they go to college and the workforce,” Foster said.

Like Foster, Smith also sees how her students will be able to learn from debate.

“The events really help them to be better prepared for their futures,” Smith said. “I think it helps them to be more successful adults.”