Mount Si Debate Success Continues, Senior Team Qualifies for Prestigious National Tournament

The winning tradition continues for Mount Si High School Debaters. After a year that sent two teams to the National Championships, it seems they’re committed to keeping up their high standards.

This past weekend, January 9th and 10th, the Mount Si Debate team had 22 students compete at the 82nd Annual University of Puget Sound Forensics Tournament, where they excelled in all three divisions of Public Forum Debate.

The team brought home a total of 16 awards, including the top award – first place in the Open Public Forum division won by the senior team of Ruary Thompson and Dana Korssjoen.

The win qualifies Thompson and Korssojoen for a very prestigious national debate competition: The Tournament of Champions in Kentucky, where the team will travel this April.

This is the 4th consecutive year that Mount Si have representation at the TOC. MSHS Debate Booster President Angela Thompson said Mount Si is the only school in Washington to ever qualify for this competition.

Thompson said they will also be sending teams to UC Berkeley during the mid Winter Break in February – a huge tournament with national exposure – where the level of competition is “far beyond” what the students would get in Washington.

343 teams participate in UC Berkley’s competition Open Category compared to the 48 at last week’s UPS tournament, which is the largest debate competition in Washington. Five of the eight teams heading to California are freshman, something Thompson said they are very proud of – to have so many young debaters reach for this goal and succeeded.

Congratulations Mount Si Speech and Debate!

University of Puget Sound Tournament Results: