The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Speech & Debate (Forensics) team traveled to the Delbarton School on March 21-22 to compete in the New Jersey Speech and Debate Districts tournament—the final in-person Forensics tournament of the year.
With a select group of 15 students representing Bridgewater-Raritan in various debate and speech categories, the team competed in several rounds at the tournament held at the school in Morristown.
This tournament was rather significant for the team, as success could potentially qualify competitors for the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament, held in Iowa in June.
While no student secured a direct qualification this year, there were a number of students who qualified as alternates to the tournament.
Sophomore Rishabh Sankar and junior Viraaj Marathe placed as the third national alternate in the quarterfinals for Public Forum Debate. Juniors Marko Gvozdenovic and Anik Shah broke in the octo-finals for Public Forum Debate.
Sophomores Advika Prakash and Harshit Kondle also performed well in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Prakash placed as the second national alternate with Kondle placing as the fifth national alternate in the quarterfinals for Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Sophomore Rishabh Sankar reflected on the tournament experience.
“I am very grateful to have competed in districts and end up as the third alternate to the national tournament. It was an amazing tournament and season as a whole, and I can’t wait to continue competing next year!” he said.
Forensics team Advisor Alben Fischer shared his thoughts on the tournament and the team’s performance.
“I am always proud to see how dedicated and driven the speech and debate students are. We had a terrific showing at districts. Even though no one qualified for nationals we had many students come very close. All of our entries were sophomores and juniors, and I was very happy to see them hold their own against many seniors from other schools,” he said.
The Forensics team will end the season with a special banquet to announce next year’s officer board and to give out team awards. This banquet will be held in late April or early May.
