East Hosts Annual Debate Tournament

The annual Shawnee Mission East Debate Tournament took place last weekend. About 200 students, along with their coaches, attended the two-day tournament.

“It actually went surprisingly smooth,” tournament director Chris Carey said. “Usually there’s mess ups and stuff, which I mean, there’s always small stuff like that happening, but there was nothing major this year, which was good.”

The East debate squad, made up of around 115 students, helped run the event. East debaters assisted in time-keeping rounds, managing judges, supervising hallways, providing food, as well as collecting and tabulating ballots.

There were two rounds Friday evening after school, with three more on Saturday morning, and elimination “out-rounds” for the top teams in the afternoon. The tournament ended around 7:30 p.m., about an hour and a half earlier that tournaments in the past. Carey feels that the tournament was a success and a good ending to something he’s been involved in for four years at East.

“It was my senior year and I got to be a tournament director with my debate partner, Michael [Hill], and it’s our last year being able to do this, so it was fun,” Carey said. “I like leading people and giving directions, I feel like I’m good at that.”

Blue Valley West won sweepstakes (the most rounds won overall) as well as the Varsity division, Olathe Northwest won the JV division and Lawrence High won the Open division.