Troy High School Trio Reaches Global Debate Competition Sweet 16

TROY, MI – A global high school debate competition that started with 180 entries has now been whittled down to the Sweet 16 and a team of three Troy High School students is still in the running for a world championship and a $10,000 grand prize.

The trio the only one representing a Michigan high school in the International Public Policy Forum World Championships. The competition, which is sponsored by the Brewer Foundation and New York University, engages students from around the globe in a written and oral debate competition involving public policy issues.

By advancing to the Sweet 16, the Troy High School team remain in position to compete in the IPPF World Championships in May. The Troy contingent is made up of Sohan Vittalam, a senior, junior Niheera Aedla, and senior Om Shah.

"It certainly has been an exhilarating experience for all of us considering that we’ve never done debate before," Vittalam told Patch in a text message on Sunday. "The teams we’ve faced so far are definitely talented and each round poses a new challenge. We’re excited to continue competing and hopefully make it further."

The remaining 16 teams represent schools from nine U.S. states as well as Austria, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Slovakia. After the competition went from the initial 180 entries down to 64 teams in November, debate teams began a single-elimination, written debate competition.

As part of the competition, each team was assigned a position on an issue and then volleyed papers back and forth over email for six weeks. A panel of judges then reviewed the 2,800-word essays and determined the winner.

Troy advanced to the Sweet 16 with a win Kugnus High School in Closter, New Jersey. The Troy trio will now face against Millburn High School in New Jersey for the right to move onto the Elite 8.

“These students analyzed and debated the complex and timely issue of artificial intelligence,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and a founder of the IPPF. “The remaining 16 teams have emerged to compete in one final written round – in hopes of competing virtually in oral debates on a global stage. Despite the challenges students around the globe are facing due to the pandemic, these students chose to participate in a highly competitive contest and have excelled.”

Elite 8 teams will be announced on March 22 and if Troy advances to the finals, the local students will compete in a final challenge that provides students the opportunity to supplement their written scholarships with oral advocacy while competing in debates in front of some of the world’s foremost experts in business, law and politics.