Ten students from the Congressional Debate Team qualified for the IHSA State Tournament in Bloomington and competed from March 17-19 at Illinois State University. 

“The event is even more exciting because it’s an overnight event,” club sponsor Thomas Swiontek said. “It’s really good for team bonding, and the students really enjoy it”

The debates typically last from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so there was not a whole lot of time in between, Swiontek said. Competitors are generally from the Chicagoland area, but kids from all over the state participated. There are other types of debate represented at the competition, around 300 to 400 kids compete in the congressional debate section.

With the help of captain Aidan Joyce ‘22, the team has stayed strong despite the hardships of a virtual season last year, due to COVID-19, Swiontek said. The state tournament looked a lot different last year with the event being virtual, where the LT team competed from NC.

“Joyce has really grown in his competitive ability,” Swiontek said. “He is the reason the team has continued to grow in spite of the pandemic and has created a fun atmosphere, but he also really helped to teach kids how to debate properly.”

Joyce has debated all four years of high school and joined to overcome his fear of speaking to larger audiences, he said.

“I was super afraid of public speaking as a freshman, and I wanted to challenge that fear,” Joyce said. 

Now he’s qualified for state three times, is currently ranked eighth in Illinois for congressional debate, and hoped to place at the IHSA competition, Joyce said.

“I think we have a great group of smart and hardworking debaters this year,” Joyce said. “I definitely expect a few of us to break into the semi-finals. For me, I’ll probably make it into the top ten again if I’m lucky.”

The team hoped to continue their success from last year as the competition returned back to normal. The sessions were a little bit longer, but the team was prepared, Swiontek said before the competition.

“Six kids qualified for the semi-finals last year, which is the most I’ve seen in almost 20 years of coaching,” Swiontek said. “I’m expecting similar results this year with five to six kids advancing to the semi-finals. You never know with the high level of competition and the way the scoring works, but we have been very consistent with our top debaters.”