By Nancy Whitney

Staff Writer

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The Wylie High School Pirate Debate Team recently traveled to Boston, MA to compete in the annual Harvard Debate tournament alongside two other local schools—Melissa High School and Lovejoy High School.

“The really cool thing about traveling with these other schools is that these kids are all very close,” Travis Hiltbrunner, Pirate Debate coach, said. “We compete against each other so often, many of them have made lasting relationships that rival any friendship they might even have in their own school.”

The teams flew out on Thursday, mapped out the campus on Thursday, and began the tournament on Saturday morning with rounds continuing until Monday afternoon.

“The competition was obviously very difficult with schools from all over the country debating with progressive styles we were not necessarily prepared for—but it was a great learning experience,” Hiltbrunner said. “The most difficult adjustment for us, however, was the weather. With temperatures below 0 on both Saturday and Sunday and wind chills down to -30, our walks to and from the different buildings on campus were painful to say the least.”

The Harvard Debate tournament was the largest tournament the team had ever competed in with over 300 entries in almost every event.

The JV CX team of Alex Landrum and Andrea Gonzales placed in the top 30 breaking to double octofinals and Caleb Steidley also placed in the top 40 in Humorous Interpretation breaking to octofinals as well.

For full story see The Wylie News at http://www.etypeservices.com/Wylie%20NewsID245/default.aspx.