Local Debate Students Win Big at Harvard University's Tournament

Middle and high school students from the Atlanta area took home top prizes at the prestigious national debate competition at Harvard University from February 15-17, 2019, winning first place in multiple divisions.
The team of Vinayak Menon and Bobby Missell, who both attend Riverwatch Middle School (8th grade), took home 1st place in the middle school division with a perfect record. Brian Yoo (Riverwatch MS 8th) and Brandon Yao (River Trail MS 8th) also managed a perfect record finishing in 2nd place. Vinayak Menon was also recognized as the top individual speaker in the competition, with Bobby finishing 2nd, Brian finishing 6th, and Brandon finishing 10th.
In addition to the top two finishes, three other teams from IBA had a good enough record to advance to the Octofinals, placing in the top 16 out of hundreds of competitors. Paris Song (Autrey Mill MS 8th), Siyona Patel (Hopewell MS 8th), Elly Kang (Dickerson MS 8th), Aaron Sinclair (Notre Dame Academy 8th), Neha Mahesh (Webb Bridge MS 6th), and Hanming Sun (Riverwatch MS 7th) were all Octofinalists.
Ivy Bridge Academy was also extremely successful in the High School novice division where the team of Brian Shon and Rohit Jivangikar, both sophomores at Alpharetta High School, won 1st place with a perfect record besting over 300 other students. Brian was also the 3rd place individual speaker. Three other high school teams from IBA made the elimination rounds with Tina Dong (Northview HS 9th), Tracy Xu (Alpharetta HS 9th), Matthew Kim (Northview HS 9th), and Ryan Moon (Chattahoochee HS 10th) reaching the Quarterfinals, and the team of Alice Huh (Lambert HS 9th) and Sophie Khanmamedov (Lambert HS 9th) reaching the Octofinals.
The Harvard National Forensic Tournament, held in Cambridge each President's Day weekend, is the largest and one of the most prestigious debate tournaments in the country. The topic of this year's debate was 'The United States should end its arms sales to Saudi Arabia". Students were evaluated on the validity of their arguments and presentations.
The students learn debate at Ivy Bridge Academy where they develop public speaking, critical thinking, and research skills. IBA has esteemed coaches with Head Coach Mike Lacy leading the group and Coach Patrick Smith, Coach Siobhan Connolly, and Coach Shawn Yen.
"To bring home the top prizes from this prestigious competition is a thrilling experience. It was an amazing experience to walk through the Harvard Square and debate in the historic classrooms of that institution. All of this would not be possible without the support of IBA's coaching staff and the intense debate prep sessions with teammates at IBA," Vinayak Menon told us.
"We are seeing a significant increase in the students interested in speech and debate. The recent win is a big boost to the morale of our team. But, more importantly, the debate coaching teaches the kids very critical skills needed for success in the future. They become great communicators and develop critical research skills on topics that are very relevant in today's world." Susan Rhee, Founder of Ivy Bridge Academy
Having established themselves as one of the top debate programs in the country, IBA looks to replicate this success at the upcoming Tournament of Champions and NSDA Nationals as the season comes to a close.