Season Kicks Off With Emory, Wake Forest

The 2013-2014 Woodward Academy Debate season kicked off at the Barkley Forum for High Schools Novice/JV Tournament hosted by Emory University. Two teams of ninth-graders represented the War Eagles and made their high school debate debuts at this one-day tournament on August 31st. Both teams did very well: Ali Abdullah and Aly Shakoor finished with an undefeated (4-0) record—good for fourth place—while Rishika Pandey and Jasmine Sears finished in seventh place with a 3-1 record. In addition to their team awards, three of the four debaters earned individual speaker awards: Aly sixth, Jasmine seventh, and Rishika eighth.

Two weekends later, the varsity team made their season debut at the Wake Forest National Earlybird in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The four teams representing Woodward were comprised of one third-year debater and seven second-year debaters. The team's inexperience led to some predictable struggles, but the tournament provided a good early season test against strong competition.

The whole team — varsity and novice — will be back in action on September 27th-29th at the Chattahoochee Cougar Classic.